I am now happily retired and in between grandchildren and occasionally writing poetry and stories, I’m no longer available to conduct workshops or give talks.
My experience includes:
- writing poetry
- writing short stories
- self-publishing print & e-books (Kindle)
- finding inspiration for novels & chapter books
- scripts for shorts and features
- scripts for television (series or telemovies)
- direction & production of short films
- working with actors for stage and screen
- writing for the stage
- directing for the stage
- producing Community theatre
- judging competitions (AFI Doco, AWGIES, WASA etc)
As a Full Member of both the Australian Society of Authors and the Australian Writers Guild, prices were structured according to ASA or AWG depending on the service required.
- author talk
- writing workshop
- one-on-one or small group mentoring
- short or long term writer-in-residence
- festival appearance
- readings
Other memberships previously held: Children’s Book Council of WA (CBCWA), Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCWBI), Film & Television Institute (FTI), Fellowship of Australian Writers WA (FAWWA) and the KSP Writers Centre, amonst others.
EXPERIENCE with Community Groups:
Committee member WA Folk Festival 80’s, filmed the Hills Folk Club in Kalamunda and initiated and ran The Wanneroo Folk Club in 1986 – 1987 which is still meeting every month nearly 30 years later.
As a founding member of New Endeavour Theatre Group between 1989 – 1992 I directed, produced, costumed and ticketed their productions.
I left that group to start one specifically for 12 – 25 year olds. I initiated and ran Northern Youth Theatre between 1992-1998 as Artistic Director overseeing productions every three months.
As the Writing and Theatrical representative on the Wanneroo and later Joondalup Festival Committees, I was instrumental in re-housing Peter Cowan’s house by the lake on ECU Campus. The result was for the famous writer’s house to become the first community writing center housed on a university campus in the Southern Hemisphere; Peter Cowan Writers Centre. I also served on their committee.
As a committee member I wrote administrational guidelines and the constitution for PCWC, plus helped with the constitution for an amalgamated committee to facilitate and co-ordinate funding applications for KSP, FAWWA and PCWC, which eventually evolved into WritingWA.
In 2002 I traveled to Ireland for 14 months attending inspiration workshops. I also published my first book of poems ‘Hidden Capacity ~ a poet’s journey’ with a preface by Prof Glen Phillips from ECU.
An Irish Review: 
In 2005, after I returned from Ireland I initiated and hosted Poets Corner @Pages Cafe in the State Library until October 2008 with more than 80 poets participating in monthly readings. I compiled and published a very limited edition Pages Cafe ’05, an anthology to thank the poets who had participated in Poets Corner readings, in 2005.
As Co-director & one of 3 Festival Organizers of the 1st WA Spring Poetry Festival in 2005, I ran many events during National Poetry Week. Later we produced the first magazine ‘The Word Is Out’ magazine to record many successes of our first festival. The following year, the same team successfully ran the 2nd WA Spring Poetry Festival 2006 and again published ‘The Word Is Out’, this time to showcase the poetry of participants. I resigned from the WA Spring Poetry Festival committee once we had acquitted funding to focus solely on my Poets Corner @ Pages Cafe.
Please note: my previous personal [francesmacaulayforde.com] and professional [poetscornerwa.com] websites are no longer active. This is currently my only active blog.
My poem ‘The Boffin’ was a finalist in the 2005 Inner City Life Poetry Competition 
bookshops are like lovers they numb in black & white then seduce you with colour titillate and tempt your soul until you finally let go find the courage to close the book ~ pages which leave you gasping ~ the breath of air on your face feels like a slap Frances Macaulay Forde © 2004
I read regular e-newsletters from Eddie Cross sent out of Bulawayo at great personal risk and my heart breaks for the people of Zimbabwe. The poem below was inspired by his words.
Proud to live in Northern Rhodesia (1954 to 1976) now Zambia, I spent many, many happy times in what was then our nearest glamorous destination, the thriving metropolis of Salisbury. It was a great for shopping, nightlife and bands – we spent many long weekends there. I wouldn’t recognize it now as Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe: Roots & Wings
When someone asks for a memory
of Africa, I always remember
those dusty hours spent outside
Katie’s Khaya under the Mopani…
Quiet melodious chattering,
the smell of sunshine and family.
Bright white Sudza plops in the pot
while bundu sticks crackled with fire.
Low stools where we crouched
in total concentration on a square
of a dozen small indents for stones,
scratched out of Africa’s skin.
Today Eddie talks of ‘roots and wings’,
of flights of fear or stoic stance:
the holes left by those who uproot
and the bravery of those who stay…
I visualize a map of Zimbabwe
systematically marked with holes.
Is this just another game of ‘Stones’
where only one man gets a turn?
Frances Macaulay Forde ~2007
April 5th 2007 – Published in The Joondalup Times Community Newspaper
Eddie Cross from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, regularly (at great personal risk) sends newsletters to family and friends telling them truthfully, about the state of his existence in times of terrible hardship which the outside world has no concept of. He's a true hero!
A newsletter sent by Eddie Cross from Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) on 2nd April 2007 which appeared on The Great North Road Bulletin Board, inspired this poem.
An Easter Tragedy
At the Magistrate’s Court in Harare, a crowd gathered outside
weeping for men and women who carry an invisible cross.
Thousands have suffered at the hands of baton-wielding zealots,
masquerading as Police, in a land where lives have little price.
Is this commercialism gone mad? Trading in muscle and limbs
feeding their families with the blood of countrymen and women?
Who weeps for Mugabe ~ he who styles himself after Jesus continually
resurrected, who pretends to heave his country away from Colonial roots?
Why should we cry for a Chinese Palace, wifely shopping sprees in Paris;
a man protected from his own voters by his army of security enforcers?
His people no longer believe he leads for them ~ have seen how he dictates,
feathers his own nest and the cronies he keeps very close ~ walled in by sin.
How long will millions of starving, beaten people wait for their turn at life,
their chance to eat, to sleep peacefully in a khaya built in prosperity and peace?
Will the tears shed this Easter encourage the world to stand up for Zimbabwe?
Frances Macaulay Forde © 2007
Plough Prize 2007 Long List for Short Poems
You must remember to EGO-SEARCH – it’s surprising what you learn about yourself!
in 2009 I discovered my poem ‘Left Field’ appeared on THE PLOUGH PRIZE Poetry Competition 2007 – Short Category (up to 10 lines) Long List 2 Short (71 poems), judged by the poet UK Laureate Andrew Motion.
A total of 1632 poems from all over the world were entered in the Open section and 780 in the Short, so I feel pretty good about getting on the Long List.
http://www.theploughprize.co.uk/Downloads/Results_letter_2007.htm
2009-06-29 14:37:47 GMT
Left Field
Lined up like the Waterford cows,
metal bodies glitter in an Irish field.
Black rubber circles squelching
acres of reconstituted bovine cud.
A Friesian audience has gathered
to ruminate on two-legged animals
with red and white coats, running
and Hurling a stone to each other,
between showers, near Carol’s Cross.
Frances Macaulay Forde © 2007
Fellowship of Australian Writers WA – New writing from Western Australia
Edited by Glen Phillips & Julienne van Loon
Compiled to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, WA (1938-2008), Lines in the Sand features prose and poetry from both well-known West Australian Writers and talented newcomers.
‘A fascinating and vibrant collection.’ John Kinsella
Don’t miss out on your copy: $29.95 inclusive
order now from FAWWA, 9384 4771
or email admin@fawwa.org.au
On Page 28 of Lines in the Sand you’ll find the poem I was recently asked to read at the launch of John’s book Shades of the Sublime and Beautiful:
desertification
before cultivation the water flowed
bouncing on leaves falling falling
to pool on fertile forest floor below
before cultivation the water flowed
flora bursting with life and clean air
jostling for sunspace canopy flirting
before cultivation the water flowed
we didn’t listen as we ploughed
clearing tree roots to feed fields
before cultivation the water flowed
now encrusted salt lusts after land
no sweetness here just bitter dry sand
Frances Macaulay Forde © 2007
Melbourne Poets Union 2011 – An anthology of tea, wine & coffee.
Edited by Sue Stanford Published by MPU
“The link between poetry and wine may be the longest and most durable but, in the hands of these poets, the relatively harmless tea and coffee give the grape a good run for its money.” ― Geoff Page
Enquiries: mpuinc@yahoo.com Limited Edition
On Page 46 of The Attitude of Cups you’ll find my poem ‘The Bar of Grief’:
The Bar of Grief
Upturned bottles once lined with military order
on dusty, termite-rotten shelves. Fingerprints;
clear spaces of use, caught by the shafts of daylight
through pin-holes where nails have been.
A puddle of spilt pain, beneath an upturned bench.
Life, wasted in boozy stench lies forgotten,
punished for excess, while determined creatures
march with hunger towards rotten snacks.
Dirt’s secret world survives in semi-darkness.
Corrugated walls, rusting-red and brown. Drips
where rain had been, left tracks as if guiding
to the next place. A dark, dank, mud-bed
suitable for long soft round things
to slither and slide through eyes now closed.
Still focused on nightmare dreams, gone before.
Frances Macaulay Forde © 2011
Poets Union Anthology 2010 ‘Dodecahedron’ New writing from members
Edited by John Lloyd Sheppard Limited edition
Included 2 of my poems on pages 60 & 61.
‘My Life As A Sari’
(1st pub 2009 Indigo Journal Vol3)
‘Desertification’
(1st pub 2008 ‘Lines in the Sand’
FAWWA Anthology of WA Writing.)
2009 Indigo Journal – Vol. 3 of West Australian writing
Guest editors: Deborah Hunn, Richard Rossiter, Sarah French.
Managing Editor: Donna Ward
Tactile Books, WA Available from: Fremantle Press $25.00 EACH
Included my poem p 60 “My Life As A Sari”. The book also included a poem by Marlia Douglas inspired by my previously published poem ‘Desertification’ (1st pub 2008 ‘Lines in the Sand’ FAWWA Anthology of WA Writing.)
In 2012 I published ‘Love’ a book of romantic poems for my appearance as the featured guest at the inaugural 2012 Avon Valley Writers’ Festival held in Northam and Toodyay:
I have appeared at other festivals, run workshops, small writing groups and participated in the 2013 Australian Poetry’s Cafe Poets program as resident poet at Burns Beach Cafe for 6 months.
Many of my poems have been published in various anthologies, magazines and on the net but a favorite is My Life As A Sari which appeared in Indigo, available from Fremantle Press.
Fremantle Press also interviewed Frances about the poem.
FREMANTLE PRESS PAGE 16/3/09 – Frances Macaulay Forde
How did you become interested in writing?
Mum wrote all the time and although her book wasn’t published, I have some of her other manuscripts. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write stories and poems, first won an award in primary school and still have one of my poetry notebooks from 1968. But really, first took myself seriously as a poet while I was studying my Bachelor of Writing at ECU in 1999. The reaction by my lecturer, Dr Glen Phillips to a poem I’d written in class both encouraged and convinced me to keep writing. He’s still my mentor and wrote the introduction to my first book of poems published in Ireland in 2003.
You started the Poet’s Corner poetry reading at the State Library Café?
Yes. That was around July 2003. I had spent 14 months in Ireland, where I attended many festivals and in particular, regular writing workshops at the Munster Literature Centre in Cork with famous Irish writers. I was inspired to write every day in Ireland, where they really treasure their writers in a palpable atmosphere of support. So I wanted to recreate something like that support when I arrived back in Perth.
I’m a great believer in place and opportunity; my daughter worked in the State Library Bookshop and during a chat with her boss, Alyson de Souza, found regular poetry readings had been held years, before in the adjoining cafe.
Pages Café liked my idea for monthly events and Poets Corner was born. We featured a core of invited readers followed by an Open Mic for anyone who wanted to share their words, often a first time opportunity. Often established poets like Glen Phillips, Coral Carter, Andrew Burke, Deanne Leber or Veronica Lake, would stand in as host inviting their favorite writers. http://www.poetscornerwa.com/PoetsPage.html
I’m very proud to say I was greatly supported by more than 80 poets over the three years I organized and hosted Poets Corner, often launching poetry careers as well as many books such as Tracy Ryan’s ‘Scar Revision’ in January 2008.
Can you tell us a bit of the story behind your poem My Life as a Sari?
I think saris are the most elegant, the most beautiful and feminine garment a woman can wear. I grew up in Northern Rhodesia which is now Zambia and we wore school uniforms. Two of my best friends were Indian twin sisters; I would go to their house after school and they would get changed straight away, into saris. While I waited, I would breathe in all sorts of delicious Indian food laid out on their huge dining table and if I hung around long enough, was often invited to “Stay and eat!”.
One day their mother, knowing I admired the saris so much, took me upstairs and asked me to choose one. Mine was a soft mint green with white embroidery, beautifully hand-done. I was overwhelmed. She and Diamante’s sister introduced me to the ritual of donning a sari – how to fold it and tie it. For years afterwards I’d recreate the sari ritual whenever I needed to feel beautiful, valued, whole and feminine – my secret dress-ups.
How do you set about writing your poems?
People and what’s happening in the world inspire me and still fill lots of notebooks. The story, script or poem has to be almost whole in my head before I put pen to paper. I have to have the kernel; have to know what the poem is about – it’s essence, before I write.
One day driving around Ireland I was boasting I could write about anything, so my husband challenged me to write about a pile of discarded car-tyres. So I did – and I still like the result!
Smooth Skin
(Ireland 2003)
Off Old Cork road, as you turn into Middleton, rest
stacks of life-saving re-treads. They wait, un-like us
who have ‘Buckley’s Chance’ of reliving our youth.
The largest lay prepared, size neatly stacked,
image-ready, resigned, proudly age un-marked
claiming their fair share of the dumping ground.
Smaller circles know their corporate place, are thrown
haphazardly because they lost their grip – has-beens
swallowed by take-over tyrants, larger than they are.
In the distance, discarded tyres lay stop-piled high.
Unlined, rubber circles, retired, aged-old wheel-rings –
job complete, have reached the end of their final journey.
Tractor workhorses, content to rest, farm miles-tired,
worn-out, knowing they don’t count because the speedy
don’t care – don’t notice how many lines are missing.
Frances Macaulay Forde © 2003
If someone asks for advice, I tell them two things: buy and read other poets and to keep every draft of their writing. Sometimes when I’m really lucky, the words just flow so although I edit, edit, edit, often the first version has a truth I could not ignore – like this poem.
My Life as a Sari
Securely tuck your fears under elastic
at the center of your waist with your left hand,
and with your right, hold the remaining
meters of spun silk - your future,
facing inside.
Measure the drop of the fall
and it’s finely stitched edge
for correct positioning against heels.
Wrap yourself in the gossamer fold, swirling
the diaphanous film behind but stay level,
and wedge the top border into your petticoat.
Like a bride preparing herself,
you are now ready to pleat.
At a distance from the last fixing,
hand-measure the delicate veil,
embroidered with details
important to who you are
toward the middle of your body.
Some may need five pleats, some six.
Less is more. Another judgement
held on show – a statement of size
however graciously it moves.
Securely fix the perfumed fanning and grasp
what is left, bring it back around
to wrap warmly and return to the front.
These days, you can choose to gather all loose
ends onto your left shoulder, secured with a jewel.
But many prefer to throw the remainder
over, remembering to hold an arm half bent,
letting the end float freely - the beaded
edge skimming the inside of your wrist.
Frances Macaulay Forde © 2007
My poems appeared in ‘Sun & Sleet’ the Poets Union Inc., anthology published in 2006.
‘Desertification’ published on page 28 of ‘Lines in the Sand’ FAWWA 2008 / Also read at John Kinsella’s launch of ‘Shades of the Sublime & Beautiful’
I participated in the 2007 and 2008 CREATIVE CONNECTIONS with poems written to the exhibited art of the disabled which also appeared in chapbooks sold to support their association.
Toodyay was published in LANDSCAPES – Sustainabilia Issue by Edith Cowan University, School of Communications and Arts, Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education & Communications.
Landscapes Vol 4 Issue 2 Summer 2010-11 Sustainabilia – Editors Glen Phillips & Andrew Taylor ISSN 1448-0778 80
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