To celebrate National Science Week 2010,
The Hunter Writers’ Centre and the Poets’ Union present:
In the Detail: The Relationship of Poetry to Natural History Illustration.
Science is an analytical understanding of the world. It explores the physical laws of nature and asks, what is? We now invite you to look at these beautiful drawings by Natural History Illustration students at the University of Newcastle; use the image presented to you, the emotion or memory it evokes, the appreciation of the intricate beauty of the everyday and find the poetry beneath what is. We have the science, the visual representation and the name, now we are looking for the poetry in the detail.
The best 14 poems as judged by the HWC’s Brian Joyce and Katharine Gillett will be displayed alongside the drawings in a special exhibition during our Weekend of Poetry 26th-28th November. They will also be posted on this website and published in a competition pdf. This is a great opportunity to publish your work in a unique and striking way, knowing it will be seen by poets from around the country. The winning insect, bird, animal and botanical poems will also receive a Science Made Marvellous poetry collection.
Closing Date: Friday 15th October
The exhibition will be held in the Golden Staircase Exhibition Room at the Lockup Cultural Centre, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle. It will remain open to the public for two weeks following the opening on Friday 26th November.
Entry Conditions:
- Please keep entries to 20 lines max.
- We are fostering new work: unpublished poems only please.
- Entry fee is $5 per poem. You may send cash.
- Please provide a completed entry form with each entry.
Images:
List of Artists
In the Detail Entry Form
*Opening Night*
Friday 26th November
Exhibition opening – In the Detail
From 5.30pm, The Golden Staircase Exhibition Room, The Lockup, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle
Drinks and nibbles in the Lockup foyer.
Browse our exhibition ‘In the Detail’. In the Detail is an exhibition of natural history illustrations from students at the University of Newcastle. Responses in poetry to these scientific and botanical drawings will be showcased alongside the art for public viewing. Local poet Magdalena Ball, who features in the Science Made Marvellous scientific anthologies will read her work. The anthologies will be for sale on the night.
Science Made Marvellous Anthologies
Science Made Marvellous, a project funded by National Science Week, has produced three booklets of science poems. Featuring poets such as Jan Owen, Ron Pretty, Michael Sharkey, and John Bennett as well as locals Magdalena Ball and Andrew Slattery, these three books “show off the rich entanglements of poetry and science.” PDF versions of these books are available for free download until 30th November.
