NT Writers presents:
Lyric Essay
Talk by Olivia Nigro
5:30-6:30pm, Thursday 15th March
@ WTS
A literary mosaic. A composition of memory fragments into melody. A polyvocal braiding where genres become estuaries and mingle. A bit of essay. A bit of poetry. A bit of subversion. A reference with no logic. An empty page spoken to by footnotes. A narrative cascade that can jump and spiral, skip like pebbles into the experimental or nestle in the crevices of vivid allusion. A stain glassed window into the historical moment where the objective and subjective are juxtaposed. ‘Lyric essay’ has many incarnations. It is a fascinating sub-genre of creative non-fiction named in 1997 by the Seneca Review.
In this one-hour presentation, Olivia will introduce writers, readers and storytellers to the many possibilities of Lyric Essay. We will look at the history, techniques and some examples of work in this emerging genre. All welcome.
This talk is part of NT Writers’ Centre’s 2018 Year of True Stories.
Olivia Nigro is a writer, researcher and justice activist who has metamorphosed through street poetry, spoken word and collaborative multimedia performance art toward writing inspired by narrative decolonisation and the freeing fragmentation of protest literature. With a background in decolonising action research, she seeks to weaponise her writing/research as a settler-accomplice on the First Nations’ led frontline for justice for First Peoples. She has been immersed in experimental hybrid writing projects over the past three years both in Australia and abroad, delving and diving between lyric essay, non-linear narrative and poetic inquiry. She is currently undertaking a Masters-by-research at University of Technology Sydney in which she is experimenting with Lyric Essay as part of her thesis.
Free, bookings essential