Joel McKerrow
Based out of Melbourne, Australia, Joel McKerrow is an award winning writer, keynote speaker, creativity specialist, educator, artist, and, having performed for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world, is one of Australia’s most successful internationally touring, performance poets.
Full-time in his creative career for the past fifteen years Joel is currently the Director of The School for Creative Development and works extensively with leaders, teams, entrepreneurs and creatives to help them navigate their way forward. He is the Artist Ambassador for the aid and development organisation ‘TEARFUND Australia’, is on teaching staff at the Melbourne Young Writers Studio, is the co-founder/host of the The Deep Place: On Creativity and Spirituality Podcast and is a speaker with BOOKED OUTspeaker agency. Joel is also very passionate about creative education and over the last fifteen years has taught poetry and the creative process to over 70,000 students in schools/colleges all over the world.
Joel was the third ever Australian representative at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships in the USA as well the co-founder of community arts organisation, 'The Centre for Poetics and Justice' (2010-2013) and the host of the Australian National Poetry Slam for the State of Victoria (2017-2019). He is a highly sought after speaker/performer at conferences, festivals and retreats all over the world including: Story Gathering Conference (Nashville), ITEC (International Transforming Education Conference), The Emerging Writer's Festival, Greenbelt festival (UK), Graceland Festival (Netherlands), Somerset Storyfest, The Global Health Summit, Cairns Tropical Writers Festival, Whitsundays Youth Voices Festival, The Justice Conference (AUS, US and NZ), Williamstown Literary Festival, Christian Education National Conference, Anglican Schools Australia Conference, Amnesty International Conference, and many more.
In publishing Joel has released five spoken word/music albums, four published books of poetry and one creative non-fiction called WOVEN: A Faith for the Dissatisfied. He also has his first Junior Fiction/Graphic novel due for release with Larrikin House publishers in early 2024. Joel has had his work featured in such publications as: Mindfood Magazine, Relevant Magazine, Going Down Swinging Literary Journal, Soul-tread magazine, Spirituality for Youth Work (Cambridge Scholars Press), Australian Stories for the Soul (Strand Publishing), Gestalt Arts and Culture Journal, New Urban World Journal, and many more.
Presenting
16 July 2023 at 5:55:00 am
Poetry and The Foreboding Blankness of an Empty Page
For anyone seeking to create poetry, our creative blocks are most often the product of our fears. To push past these blocks, to confront the fear, takes a great deal of courage. Yet, every time they show up at the page, this is where the artist plays...just outside the comfortable, in the world of RISK. It is in this place too where inspiration is found, not as some elusive thing, but rather through the very intentional choice of slowing down to be present to both the inner world and the outer world. This workshop gives people the courage and the practical steps to both push through their fear and to tap into the inspiration
all around.
