Murwillumbah poet Damien Becker has won the 2024 Flying Island Poetry Manuscript Competition for his work Thin Reed Throat.<\/p>\n
Becker won the first prize of $1,000 cash, publication in the Flying Island Pocket Poets Series and 30 free copies, and a potential writer’s residency at Arbaro Writers and Artists Residency.<\/p>\n
One of 10 shortlisted finalists, Becker said he was amazed at the accolade.<\/p>\n
“Winning this award was a big surprise and hugely validating for me as a writer still finding my way,” he said.<\/p>\n
Flying Islands has poetry-making as central to its efforts. It aims to bring experienced and new poets together on and off-line through mentoring, art events, workshops, blogs, websites, readings, launches, and its Pocket Poet Series publication.<\/p>\n
The poet said that his title came from the sense of diminished power of his own voice, literally and symbolically.<\/p>\n
“People with cystic fibrosis (CF) tend to have very distinctive timbre to their voice for physiological reasons,” he said.<\/p>\n
“In many ways, this book was a reclamation of something I felt reduced my place in the world around me, competing for attention at increasing volumes.<\/p>\n
“Living with CF is an inescapable lens through which you experience everything, from your first breath. Death presses on you constantly.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to convey the joy and complexity of life within such parameters, particularly as a child and teenager finding a sense of themselves with no ability to think too far into the future.<\/p>\n
“I’ve had a wonderful life. I’m 50 next year, and I’ve been fit and healthy since my lung transplant nine years ago. I’ve been extremely lucky.”<\/p>\n
Becker believes in the importance of poetry and the liberty it represents for him personally.<\/p>\n
“Poetry for me is freedom from the constraints of day-to-day communications, whether it’s our relentlessly bland corporate language, the daily hustle of personal branding, or the polarised debates online.”<\/p>\n
The north coast region is well known for its fertile creative ground. Becker believes the area helps creatives to thrive.<\/p>\n
“I think the landscapes of our region, and the people that are either drawn to them or emerge from them, show glimpses of what a perfect world could look like, small visions of possibility,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s no wonder that we produce so many artists and writers.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Murwillumbah poet Damien Becker has won the 2024 Flying Island Poetry Manuscript Competition for his work Thin Reed Throat. Becker won the first prize of $1,000 cash, publication in the Flying Island Pocket Poets Series and 30 free copies, and a potential writer’s residency at Arbaro Writers and Artists Residency. One of 10 shortlisted finalists, […]<\/p>\n