Due to copyright restrictions audio can not be provided on this page, but many of Justine's productions are available as downloads from the ABC RN website. There are features including reading and interviews with young Australian writers; poets of the canon; anthologies of poetry from other cultures; and collections reflecting on such diverse themes as fishing, the power of silence, the blues, walking, the magic and mystery of air travel, and of course love.
Her more recent audiobook work is available for purchase from various audiobook platforms.
In 2008 Australia lost one of its most acclaimed and popular poets with the death of Dorothy Porter from breast cancer at age 54. This feature on her life and poetry includes archival material of Dorothy Porter reading her poems, and in conversation, with additional readings and commentary by Andrea Goldsmith,her partner.
Bushfire has always been part of our landscape – an integral part – but we have a fraught relationship with it. People choose to live their lives in areas of great natural beauty such as our eucalypt forests, but when they are ablaze they are deadly to all life – human, animal and plant.
In this program about the effect of bushfires, you’ll hear from a range of Australian poets. You’ll also hear poets Jordie Albiston, Lauren Williams and John Jenkins sharing their stories of the communities and environments affected by the Victorian Black Saturday fires of 2009.
A bi-lingual program featuring the highly acclaimed work of Palestinian poet and short story writer Taha Muhammed Ali (1921-2011).
Born in rural Galilee, Taha Muhammed Ali was forced to flee to Lebanon along with his family when their village came under heavy bombardment during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The following year he returned and settled in Nazareth. Although his formal schooling had lasted only four years, Taha began reading Arabic and English literature in an effort to educate himself. He commenced writing and publishing short stories in the 1950s, and poetry in the 1970s. Eschewing the direct approach adopted in the 'poetry of resistance' of his peers, but flowing from the same history of shared loss, he has created a body of work that is compelling, evocative and universal in its examination of belonging and being.
WS Rendra, who died in 2009 aged 73, was Indonesia's major contemporary poet and performance-maker. He was nicknamed Burung Merak, The Peacock, for his flamboyant and powerful performance style. He was one of the few artists in his country to dare criticise the ruling regime: as a consequence he was imprisoned for nine months in 1979, and his performances were often banned. He was an inspiration for the generations of young Indonesian poets and performers who came after him. This feature about his life and writing features archival recordings of Rendra reading his poetry in Bahasa Indonesian and discussing his work, comment by his literary translator Harry Avellling, and readings in English.
Thirteen Jesuses is a charming suite of poems that reflect upon life's experiences, and their formative impact. Whether it be a cherished memory, an incident best forgotten, or simply the banalities served up by modern mass media, poet Garth Madsen muses upon what they have revealed to him of a truth beyond the sum of its parts.
A feature on the verse parodies of Australia's most popular satirist, John Clarke.
An excerpt from this radio play, which was the ABC's entry in the prestigious Prix Italia in 2009 and won that year's Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE for best radio adaptation. Written by Catherine Ryan and performed by Glenda Linscott and Daniella Farinacci, this production makes extensive use of field recordings from journeys to Antarctica made by Margot Foster and Ron Sims, recordings of natural radio by Stephen P McGreevy, and harmonic singing by Linda Lassi. Sound design by Garry Havrillay. Produced and directed by Justine Sloane-Lees.