Welcome to your quarterly update about all the too many creative things I’m up to at the moment. It’s a packed end of the year!
Calling: another Marion St EP
We’ve done it again: Marion St have just dropped our second EP. Calling features three songs by different people involved in Christian Students Uniting, the Uniting Church’s ministry with university students, past and present. My song Salt and Light features on the EP and is a reimagining of the Beatitudes for our contemporary context, affirming our inherent blessedness and our worthiness to answer Jesus’ call to follow. You can listen to it now on all music streaming services and even buy sheet music.
Mikali Anagnostis – my Marion St co-founder – and I have also recently appeared on the Spiritual Misfits podcast to talk about worship music, how Gen Z approaches religion and spirituality, and church as poetry slam. Have a listen to our conversation with Will Small wherever you get your podcasts.
We have also been in the studio again in the last few weeks, recording our third EP. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates.
Gabi pictured with Jasmin, the October slam winner.
Adding poetry slam winner to my bio
This year I’ve been performing my poetry more often, getting to know Sydney’s poetry community by going along to open mics, and even poetry slams. In September, I won the Bread and Butter Poetry Slam with my poem I am who I am, about being a nonbinary person of faith. Because I won the September slam, I was the featured poet for the October slam, and I performed five more poems from my manuscript-in-progress this body a home. It was wonderful to be held by the Bread and Butter Poetry Slam community and to see them get behind my poetry to celebrate the intersection of queerness and faith.
I will be performing for them again on 7th December at the upcoming Slampionship, where each month’s winner from throughout the year will compete against each other. The theme is bread, a subject I have surprisingly not yet written a poem about, so we will see what glutinous creation I can come up with. Tickets are going fast, so buy yours here.
Upcoming writing workshop
I am delighted to announce that I’m running an Advent Reflective Writing Workshop on 16th December! This workshop is an opportunity to reflect on the year that has been through some creative journaling prompts that draw on the themes of the season of Advent – those four weeks leading up to Christmas. You don’t need to consider yourself a writer or part of a particular faith tradition to attend, though there will be some spiritual imagery used to frame the prompts.
My philosophy as both a poet and a workshop facilitator is to approach creative writing as a spiritual practice: a decision to show up to the page and open ourselves to whatever emerges, rather than being driven by outcome. So, bring your favourite notebook and pen, and join me on Saturday 16th December, 2:30-4pm, in the Art Studio at Annandale Creative Arts Centre (entry via Johnston Lane). Register via Eventbrite for $20 per person.
Poetry to be published in Insights
Keep an eye out for the Christmas edition of Insights Magazine, the publication of the Uniting Church in NSW and the ACT, for my series of prose poems reimagining parts of the Christmas story through the lens of queer embodiment.