Fire Moves Faster: What A City Can Overcome
Drawing on poems from Maxine Beneba Clarke’s acclaimed collection How Decent Folk Behave and accompanied by original compositions from Amaya Laucirica, Fire Moves Faster is an arresting union of poetry and song that moves through the emotional landscapes of recent years – tracing threads of trauma and joy, confusion and clarity, despair and hope.
Join Clarke and Laucirica in Bendigo for an intimate evening of striking live performance, followed by a Q&A exploring their creative partnership and the role of poetry and music in navigating uncertain times.
Presented in partnership with The Wheeler Centre and supported by the City of Greater Bendigo and Red Room Poetry as part of Poetry Month.
Bookseller: Bookish.
Friday 14 August, 6-7pm
The Engine Room, View St Bendigo
Pricing:
- Champion: $20
- Fair share: $15
- Community: $12
- Accessible: $ 10
- Supported: $5
Performers
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of over 15 books for adults and children, including the short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the memoir The Hate Race, and the picture books When We Say Black Lives Matter, We Know a Place and The Patchwork Bike. Her poetry collections include Carrying the World, How Decent Folk Behave, It’s the Sound of the Thing: 100 New Poems for Young People, the recently released Beautiful Changelings, and Stuff I’m (Not) Sorry For: 99 More Poems for Young People. Maxine was the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne (2023–2025).
Amaya Laucirica
Amaya Laucirica is an Australian singer-songwriter whose music blends elements of pop, rock and psychedelia. In 2011, she was named by Rolling Stone as one of the ten most exciting new female voices in Australian music, and was nominated for Female Artist of the Year at The Age Music Awards.
Amaya has toured extensively, performing at Primavera Sound (Spain), North by Northeast (Canada), Dark Mofo, NGV and QAGOMA.
Her music has featured in television and film, including The Slap (ABC), Friday Night Lights (NBC), and the feature film Summer Coda. She has also made television appearances on RocKwiz (SBS) and Sunday Arts (ABC).
