Hello friends!

Avid readers of the Ballarat Courier may have come across the recent news that Words Out Loud has disbanded and been rebranded under new management. Um, not so.

Kirstyn and I are still at the helm of Words Out Loud, and Words Out Loud remains its own entity. True, we are no longer running a monthly spoken word event in Ballarat. We were happy to allow someone else to fill that space this year, as after seven years, including two of pandemic disruption, we were tired.

We are looking to 2023 as an opportunity to run occasional events as a complement to other arts offerings in the region, and have irons in the fire as I type.

Watch this space for WOL announcements, as well as the Facebook page and the website, where we continue to help spread the word of literary events in the region.

And in the meantime, enjoy the summer break, in whatever shape that takes. May it be peaceful and joyous. I think, after the past couple of years, we’ve all earned it.

All the best of the season,
Jason and Kirstyn
WOL co-convenors

In October 2021, we lost a wonderful poet, sculptor, great supporter of WOL and generally bloody nice buy in Bob McKinnon.

Bob was mentoring Linton Sharples, who has penned this tribute to Bob. We’re told the pair were to have done a combined exhibition last year at the Dunolly Arts Hub, and Linton’s collection, Ramblings of a Slow Talking Poet, is to be updated to include the piece.

Details: Linton Sharples aka ‘The Slow Talking Poet’ has been writing verse since his late teens. He is a Central Goldfields writer with an acquired brain injury, and his original work has been shown in exhibitions online at the Dunolly Arts Hub, presented at open mic sessions in the region with poet legend mentor Bob McKinnon, for Words in Winter Central Goldfields 2021 at Maryborough and Dunolly, and for Clunes Words in Winter 2021. He is so grateful for Bob’s mentoring he wrote this tribute to his memory.

It reads:

“Ode to Bob McKinnon”

Bob grew up on Misery Plains,

Died in Clunes aged 62.

From his family and friends,

Hear the sad refrain.

Bob was a man among men,

That’s why we’re all so blue.

By The Slow Talking Poet.

(copyright #theslowtalkingpoet 2021)