Report on the 2024 Poetry Mentorship through GWN
Our first six-month poetry mentorship was a great success.
This report was written by Vicky Daddo of Gippsland Writers Network (GWN), and mentee Amanda Allan in Jindivick, and published in today’s GWN monthly newsletter:
The inaugural Poetry Mentee has now completed their six month mentorship.
Amanda Allan wrote:
“Over the last six months I have had the privilege of undertaking a Poetry Mentorship with Sally-Anne Watson Kane. I feel I have gained a huge benefit from the program. Sal encouraged me to start writing without rhyme, although use rhythm for longer works, and I now use all these. Strip my ideas back to create a bigger impact; this exercise I took to Jindivick Writers Group and all agreed it is of benefit to prose also. Sal gave welcome advise on what is or is not suitable, ethically, for a wider audience, and the non-validity of referencing a book/story about other ethnic groups that are not written by a person of that ethnicity. Whom to approach for approval to ensure accuracy and prevent offence [sensitivity reading]. I now have two poems in Edition 2 Poetry of Place, Catchment and a 100-word story in the Victorian Writer magazine.”
Thank you Sally-Anne for her generosity in offering this opportunity and working with the mentee. Details of the next poetry mentorship will be announced in a later edition of the newsletter.
And, from me: many thanks to GWN for organising it, and a big thank you to Amanda for being an enthusiastic and flexible learner and a great mentee.
Image: Copyright Darren Kane 2024