In the heart of Carman’s Tunnel in Maldon, a space that was made to mine gold but now is a venue known for its exquisite sound and unique atmosphere, four leading poets will read works developed from the essence of experience.

This very intimate series of poetry readings will include works concerned with environment, relationships, family and the epiphanies that have changed the course of a life.

Sarah Day has been described as ‘one of the most considerable of modern Australian poets’ and her work as ‘the poetry of vivacity: language leaping off the page’ (Sydney Morning Herald).

Bronwyn Lea’s most recent work The Other Way Out won the 2008 Western Australian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. Grounded in the immediacy of the physical world, her poems are humorous, heated and redemptive, yet always keenly alive.

In his most recent book The Ambrosiacs, Les Wicks explores a sequence of endpoints: spiritual exploration, suburbia, rural escapes and travel … all with his typical raw honesty, humour and rage.

Andy Jackson and Rachael Wenona Guy’s Ambiguous Mirrors is a unique fusion of puppetry, poetry and music, which is deeply moving and thought-provoking. This intimate theatrical piece explores living with physical difference and the role of family on the formation of identity.

The winner of the inaugural 2011 Castlemaine Poetry Prize, sponsored by Elliott Midland Newspapers, will be read during interval.