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David Stavanger David Stavanger i(A102620 works by) (a.k.a. David Stavenger)
Also writes as: Ghostboy
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 2 y separately published work icon Admissions : Voices within Mental Health David Stavanger (editor), Radhiah Chowdhury (editor), Mohammad Awad (editor), Perth : Upswell Publishing , 2022 24806884 2022 anthology autobiography essay

'An unprecedented look at the lived experience of mental health in creative work, as told by writers, comedians and public figures

'We are full of worlds that can't be contained by a pill.

'This groundbreaking collection documents the state of mental health in Australia, foregrounding a wide range of voices with lived experience defining themselves beyond a diagnosis.

'Admissions showcases more than one hundred works- poems, essays, lyrics, fiction and illustrations from some of our leading writers, comedians and public figures challenging prescribed notions of illness, recovery, treatment and trauma while reclaiming language as an act of mad pride.

'Exploding with optimism and pain, encounters and descriptions, this is an unprecedented exploration of what is carried through life and writing.' (Publication summary)

1 Recline i "openings can be challenging", David Stavanger , 2022 single work poetry
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 June no. 105 2022; Best of Australian Poems 2022 2022; (p. 141)
1 Intensifier i "It’s strange that a dog barking at the beach becomes a cause for concern.", David Stavanger , 2021 single work poetry
— Appears in: Griffith Review , April no. 72 2021; (p. 88-95)
1 Seafaring i "You lead me down to the ocean.", David Stavanger , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: Rabbit , no. 32 2020; (p. 80) Best of Australian Poems 2021 2021; (p. 176)
1 y separately published work icon MAD Poetry David Stavanger (editor), Darlinghurst : The Red Room Company , 2020 21429622 2020 website poetry

'We are full of worlds that can't be contained by a pill. MAD Poetry is an initiative that originated in the Illawarra, evolving in 2019 into workshop pilots in Port Kembla and Wollongong supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW. 2020 sees MAD Poetry find a home at Red Room Poetry coordinated by David Stavanger.

'The key focus is on creating a safe writing space for emerging voices with a lived/living experience of mental health issues to express how they see the world, where these poets can define themselves through their creativity not their diagnosis, and explore by pen and page their experience of illness, institutions, recovery, self-care, and beyond.'

Source: Red Room Company.

1 Suicide Dogs i "There is a bridge in Scotland where over fifty dogs", David Stavanger , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: In Your Hands 2020; (p. 112-113)
1 Reflection i "Two sales staff talked to themselves about a man who walked by their shop", David Stavanger , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Anthology of Australian Prose Poetry 2020; (p. 160)
1 Shell i "Life is measured by the people who will miss you", David Stavanger , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , October 2020;
1 5 y separately published work icon Case Notes David Stavanger , Nedlands : UWA Publishing , 2020 18541590 2020 selected work poetry

'Your name is not yours / once it’s in their mouth   

'The highly anticipated follow up to the award-winning collection The Special, this electric new body of work by David Stavanger is a mix tape of free verse, lyric poetry, found text, spoken word and flash fiction documenting the lived/living mental health experience and the well beyond.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Introduction David Stavanger , Anne-Marie Te Whiu , 2019 single work poetry
— Appears in: Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019; (p. xvii)
'Solid Air attempts to physicalise what spoken word poetry is (and can be) —that which one is compelled to speak / that which one cannot hold silent. Spoken word is more than hard-earned memorisation or performance technique. It is a lived and living thing: within the skin of the text, the song of the line, the architecture of sound. Performance poetry is on one level ephemeral but that doesn't mean the writing can't endure beyond the moment. On these pages sit words chat have often first been performed in a live context to an audience. The pulse of those moments still hangs between the lines.' (Introduction)
 
1 7 y separately published work icon Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word David Stavanger (editor), Anne-Marie Te Whiu (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2019 15681951 2019 anthology poetry

'Over the past decade, Spoken Word has established itself as a central part of contemporary Australian & New Zealand poetry. For the first-time ever, these voices are transported from the stage to the page, captured in print so that the spoken-word experience can be shared with a new and broader audience.

'Solid Air showcases the work of more than 100 performance poets - combining elements of slam, hip-hop and experimental performance poetry - to deliver an unforgettable reading experience that is both literary and loud. Poems capture themes of modern culture, identity and resistance.

'Contributors include Ali Cobby Eckermann, Hera Lindsay Bird, Claire G. Taika Waititi, Courtney Barnett, Michelle Law, Hannah Gadsby, Luka Lesson and many, many more.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Corrections i "The telephone would ring after hours", David Stavanger , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Southerly , December vol. 78 no. 3 2018; (p. 235-237)
1 Foreword Andrew Galan , David Stavanger , 2018 single work
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Journal , vol. 8 no. 2 2018; (p. 1)

'American performance poet Emily XYZ wrote In the opening (typed) notes of her (printed) songbook that she viewed the stage work contained within (pages) "as something to be heard than read, and as performance scripts rather than literature".

'We live in a world moving further from the limitations of binaries whilst still clutching to the need to define things in concrete. The duality of performed and written poetry has been forged by reaction as much as revolution. Many in power are unsettled by the continued rise of a poetics that can be understood without academic assistance. The loss of 'hard-won technique', of contested space. The growing degree of diversity. The discovery of access. Poems as entertainment, as popular culture. Poems as air. Spoken Word is both a new and an ancient aesthetic. A turning toward the fringe, the feral, the first, the unfinished, the unbound, the speaking tongue. Minority and First Nation voices interrogating a binary world to birth new-old lines:

 
InshaAllah means, there arc many worlds. Maybe in one, you are not dead 
Don't make me choose / For I am both, l am more 

(Introduction)

1 How to Start a War i "Rise early before the morning", David Stavanger , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Rabbit , no. 25 2018; (p. 84-85)
1 The Horror i "The unblinking doll in the room I am staying in blinked.", David Stavanger , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Foam:e , March no. 15 2018;
1 A Temple For You. i "A place to think just be. A chamber of boiling water, a chamber of imported wood, a chamber of casual", David Stavanger , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Foam:e , March no. 15 2018;
1 How to Be an Alpha Male i "Doubt your position, then stand over it.", David Stavanger , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Foam:e , March no. 15 2018; Rabbit , no. 25 2018; (p. 82-83)
1 New Age i "We dream, we heal, we are reborn.", David Stavanger , 2017 single work poetry
— Appears in: States of Poetry - Queensland 2017;
1 I Lied i "I lied.", David Stavanger , 2017 single work poetry
— Appears in: States of Poetry - Queensland 2017;
1 I. The Counsellor' and 'II. Reflection i "I am driving into cowboy country once more. My job is to help rural girls leave repressed", David Stavanger , 2017 single work poetry
— Appears in: States of Poetry - Queensland 2017;
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