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Perth Poetry Club this Saturday 5th September 2026, 2pm-4pm, has wonderful poets
Ian Lilburne + Claire Potter (NSW) + Anne Gleeson (Vic) + open-mike
at The Moon Café, 323 William Street Northbridge & on ZOOM.
Retirement is a wonderful thing. Since leaving full time work ten years ago, life has been an adventure for Ian Lilburne. Truth be told, he never did like work that much, it always took time away from the things he really wanted to do. Granted, he had a lot of fun when he directed the Perth Fringe, a headstone experience, but that was thirty years ago.
Since retiring, Ian has surrendered to his true creative self, playing music, crafting poetry, taking photographs and writing about arts and music for online magazines XPress and Seesaw. These passions tend to work in cycles, not simultaneously, and Ian is currently on a musical bent. He is launching his new album, Left Hand of Darkness, a cycle of poetic songs, at the Ellington Jazz Club in October this year. Hence his poetic activities of late have tended toward writing new, and refining old, songs. Unpublished, he has more than 120 poems. But he has an equal number of songs and has released four albums of original material, all available on Bandcamp. So, as well as the Perth Poetry Club, his work is well and truly in the public domain!
Claire Potter is author of four poetry collections Acanthus (Giramondo), Swallow (Five Islands), In Front of a Comma (Poets Union) and N’ombre (Vagabond). Her books have shortlisted for the NSW, ACT, and Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the Michael Wesley Wright Poetry Award, and the Helen Anne Bell Poetry Award; and her poetry recognised by the 2025 & 2026 Peter Porter Poetry Prize shortlist, the Tom Collins Poetry Award (twice), a Young Poets Union Fellowship and an Australian Arts Council Poetry Grant. Internationally, her poetry shortlisted for the Keats-Shelley Poetry Award and an Alpine Writing Fellowship.
Claire’s poetry has been widely anthologised and published in journals such as Poetry Chicago, The New York Review of Books, The London Review of Books, New Statesman, Shearsman, Poetry Review Ireland, Westerly, Thirty Australian Poets, Australian Book Review, Jacket 2, The Best Australian Poems, Meanjin, Cordite, The Age amongst others, and translated into Chinese and French. Originally from Perth, Claire lives in Sydney and is Head of the Writing Centre at the Architectural Association, London.
Anne Gleeson is an award-winning Australian poet who has presented her work in Ireland, England, the USA, Estonia and most states of Australia. She loves the fun to be had with words and rhythm, the connections to be made with audiences and the challenge of telling important stories in a poetic form.
Anne has achieved the status of being a writer in that she spends more time writing than engaging in any of her other occupations, Education, Coaching, Pastoral Care, Funeral Care and Bereavement Care. Anne has published four collections of poetry and numerous essays and articles. She has taught poetry and continues to mentor newer poets. She sees her passion for poetry and words as a rich thread weaving through her life.
Join us to celebrate poetry
Ian Lilburne + Claire Potter (NSW) + Anne Gleeson (Vic) + open-mike
2pm-4pm this Saturday 5th September 2026
at The Moon Café, 323 William Street, Northbridge & on ZOOM
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84254037443
The backroom of The Moon is properly air-conditioned, and it is a great space to be wherever you are on a Saturday afternoon 2pm-4pm WST, because in weeks to come, we have:
5-Sep-26
Ian Lilburne + Claire Potter (NSW) + Anne Gleeson (Vic) + open-mike
12-Sep-26
Ronald Atilano (NSW) + Beau Biddle + Squid + open-mike
19-Sep-26
Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon + open-mike
26-Sep-26
Grand Final Special – Mega Open-mike, with something else
… All with open mike, not to be missed …