The Emerald Hill Music and Poetry Festival
Curated by acclaimed local poet Michael Crane and supported by the Palais Theatre Community Fund, this festival brings music and poetry together in our very own Emerald Hill Library.
Michael Crane
Known for his sell-out tours of Les Murray and the much-loved St Kilda Library Poetry Idol series, Craney now draws on his rich network of local writers and musicians to create a unique library experience.
Expect unforgettable performances from celebrated poets and musicians, many with long ties to the Port Phillip music and literary scene.
This is not a pub gig—it’s a rare chance to hear words and music in an intimate library setting, where audiences come to truly listen.
Special thanks to Arts Access, South Melbourne Community Chest, and Paul & Angela Riggs for supporting this initiative.
Tuesday 11 November | 6 pm
Musician Alison Ferrier and Poet Carl Walsh
Alison Ferrier Singer-songwriter-guitarist Alison Ferrier delivers an evocative and emotive collection of atmospheric folk, laid-back country and hypnotic blues. Her lyrically- rich slow-build numbers showcase her talent for melody, and her vocals are effortlessly refined with conviction and vulnerability in equal measure.
Carl Walsh is a neurodiverse poet who lives and writes on Wurundjeri Country. Carl's poetry has appeared in StylusLit, Westerly, Rabbit, Tokyo Poetry Journal, Wales Haiku Journal, The Madrigal and Meanjin (amongst others). His first book of poetry, Tarp Green Light, was published in Flying Islands’ 2024 Pocket Poets series.
Tuesday 18 November | 6 pm
Musician Charles Jenkins and Poet Claire Gaskin
Charles Jenkins is a songwriter and performer who has released 23 albums, toured Europe and the USA extensively, been nominated for two ARIA awards with Icecream Hands and in 2014 won the Music Victoria award for best folk/roots album. He is known for his strong, poetic songs, his melodic invention, sharp tongue and clever sense of humour.
Claire Gaskin's poetry collection, a bud, was completed in the receipt of an Australia Council grant and shortlisted in the SA Festival Awards. Her subsequent collections are, Paperweight (2013), Eurydice Speaks (2021), Ismene’s Survivable Resistance (2021) and Weather Event (2023). Her current collection is supported by a Creative Australia grant.
Tuesday 25 November | 6 pm
Musician Rebecca Barnard and Poet & Musician Dan Warner.
Rebecca Barnard is a celebrated Australian singer-songwriter with a rich jazz heritage. Formerly of Rebecca’s Empire and a longtime collaborator with artists like Paul Kelly and Tim Rogers, she combines jazz, folk and rock influences. Passionate about community, she co-founded the Mirabel Foundation and continues to release acclaimed solo albums. In 2023 she released her 4th solo album The Night We Called It a Day.
Dan Warner is a songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. In the '80s and '90s, Dan sang and played rhythm guitar in several local bands including The Warner Brothers, Overnight Jones and Dan & Al. Dan is currently working with fellow musician Marcel Borrack on their songwriting project, ‘The Night Parrots’.
Tuesday 2 December | 6 pm
Muso Greg Arnold and Poet Michael Crane.
Greg Arnold is the singer-songwriter behind Australian folk-rock institution Things of Stone and Wood. He’s released two top ten albums The Yearning and Junk Theatre. The band won an ARIA and Greg was named Australian Songwriter of the Year by APRA in 1993. Across a thirty-year recording career, he has established a catalogue of melodic, harmonically rich and lyrically meaningful folk rock and acoustic "horsepower pop".
Michael Crane is a Melbourne-based poet and writer with work published in Overland, Meanjin, Southerly and Best Australian Poems. He organised Poetry Idol for the Melbourne Writers Festival, edited the Paradise Anthology, and toured Les Murray nationally. Author of 10 books, he has also worked on Into the Limelight film projects and holds a BA in Creative Writing from RMIT. In 2020 he received an Australia Council grant.
