Poetica - podcasts of Australian poets

To quote from the ABC email about this:

A Pod of Poets is a unique partnership between ABC Radio National's Poetica http://abc.net.au/rn/poetica program and the Australia Council for the Arts that brought eleven
Australian poets to the microphone to read and talk about their writing.

The project was inspired by Poetica's audience who consistently request podcasts of programs, a difficult request to fulfil because of copyright restrictions. Each of the forty-minute Pod of Poets episodes is read by the author and features only rights-free music, enabling the podcasts to be created.


"The Poetica podcast series A Pod of Poets will extend the connection between poetry lovers, students and some of Australia's leading contemporary poets," said Poetica presenter Mike Ladd.


"The intimacy of hearing the poets read and discuss their works is enhanced by images and sounds and transcripts of poems and interviews. This is a way of engaging with poetry in the 21st century and the series brings good poetry to the ipod generation."


The eleven podcasts recorded and produced by Poetica, include established and emerging poets: Robert Adamson, Les Murray, Joanne Burns, John Kinsella, Josephine Rowe, Craig Billingham, L.K. Holt, Aidan Coleman, Jayne Fenton Keane, Martin Harrison, Sam Wagan Watson, Kathryn Lomer, Esther Ottaway, John Clarke and Jordie Albiston.


The A Pod of Poets website (abc.net.au/rn/poetica) includes all podcasts, transcripts, photographs and biographical information about each of the poets.


This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the  Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

In reponse to the first comment: storing these: I'd suggest getting your English teachers to download these into iTunes.  I don't currently store podcasts at school, but it's certainly something to look at.

Australia film: Set to Screen Podcasts

As part of the publicity and buzz around Baz Luhrmann's new film, Australia, there's an educational component involving podcasts and creative challenges for students.  To quote from that website:

Learn moviemaking from a master.



Great movies are full of adventure, and Australia, the next film from Oscar-nominated director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet), is no exception. But making a movie is an even bigger adventure—an adventure in creativity—and with the Apple Set to Screen Series, you can be a part of it.

Every few weeks through October, a new podcast episode from Baz and his production team will introduce you to another aspect of moviemaking, starting with on-set still photography, then moving on to costume design, cinematography, scoring, and more. You’ll get insights from the artists at work on Australia, watch them in action, view footage the rest of the world hasn’t seen yet, and follow along as the movie comes together.

Start your journey now.


Subscribe to the Set to Screen Series, and iTunes will automatically download each new episode that’s posted. Once you’ve watched an episode, come back here to check out the notes about the featured member of the production team, and—if there’s a challenge for that episode—get all the details you’ll need to participate.



Image source.

Carry-on children's books

Iconic US librarian Nancy Pearl (she has an action figure - blue cardi and shushing finger included) put together a list of 'carry-on reading' for travel for NPR (National Public Radio), including several children's books.  Read the article, or listen to the broadcast on the link - there are links on the page to excerpts from each recommendation (which I've put on the ones mentioned below). 



Her selections include the following (courier font sections are quotes from Nancy's reviews):

• The Arrival by Shaun Tan: Tan brilliantly universalizes the immigrant experience by making the country of arrival a surreal place that is as wondrously strange to the reader/viewer as it is to the immigrant himself.


• Chester by Melanie Watt: In literary criticism circles, you often hear the term "metafiction," which the Encarta Dictionary defines as "fiction writing that deals, often playfully and parodically, with the nature of fiction, the techniques and conventions used in it, and the role of the author." Well, when I read Melanie Watt's Chester, I figured that I had come across perhaps the world's very first meta-picture book.


• Sunshine by Robin McKinley: I have never been a fan of novels with vampires in them. In fact, until recently I'd never read horror fiction at all — I've always felt that real life is scary enough before you add the supernatural to the mix. But I've always loved the novels of award-winning fantasy writer Robin McKinley, and a friend whose book smarts I respected recommended McKinley's novel Sunshine, so I (somewhat hesitantly) picked it up, started reading and found — to my surprise — that I couldn't put it down.

Disclaimer: I didn't just include this blog entry because someone other than me is recommending one of my favourite books, Sunshine.  Nope.  I just want to be helpful, as of course you know ;-) .  Move along now, no bias here....



Image from the NPR article.

EdPod on ABC radio/podcast

If you're after a regular 25 min podcast focusing on educational matters, EdPod may be just what you want.

To quote from the ABC website:

EdPod presents a mix of education stories from early childhood to the end of secondary school.It's a jargon-free look at the experience of educators, researchers, parents and students. EdPod examines new education ideas, and asks whether things could or should be done differently.From the classroom to the staff room and on to the home, EdPod brings you the latest ideas about learning.

POD: http://abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/edp.xml