Raising the Bar for Nature on World Animal Day, Sat, 4 Oct, 6pm – 9pm AEST at the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre, 33-39 Acacia St, Katoomba NSW 2780. Tickets $15 from Humantix

Local poets from Darug and Gundungurra country (Blue Mountains NSW) , including Louise Wakeling and David Brooks, whose latest poetry collection has just been awarded the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry, followed by an Open Mic, to share poetry that inspires us all to ‘raise the bar’ for nature on World Animal Day: an international day of action for animal rights and welfare that marks its 100th birthday in 2025.

We’ll also pay tribute to the cofounder of Animal Liberation, Christine Townend, with readings of her work, and share delicious plant-based food and great company as we launch a few weeks of action for animals, including the launch of the Community Dinner Club, and culminating in our inaugural Food Security Fair at the Planetary Health Centre on Saturday 18th October.

About David Brooks

David has published several novels, collections of short fiction and of poetry, and works on the rights of non-human animals. He is an honorary Associate Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, and was for twenty years co-editor of Southerly. He lives in the Upper Mountains with rescued sheep. His latest book The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems has just won the this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Award for a poetry collection. The judges wrote: ‘Brooks is a poet of great ingenuity whose contribution to Australian poetry is proven, via this volume, to be indispensable.’

About Louise Wakeling

Louise Wakeling lives in Gundungera country. Her fourth collection of poetry is Off Limits (Puncher & Wattmann, 2021). She has been published in The Best Australian Poems (2010), Antipodes (2011), Contemporary Poetry (2016), Caring for Country (2017), Wild Voices: An anthology on wildlife issues (2019), Best Australian Science Writing (2022) and Moments (2024).  Her poems have appeared in Cordite, Burrow, Live Encounters and Meniscus, as well as several online anthologies edited by Les Wicks, including Class (2024). She is currently working on a fifth collection exploring movement, confinement and escape, and counts her blessings for still being here, still bearing witness.

A Tribute to Christine Townend

At Raising the Bar we’ll also pay tribute to Christine Townend, a Leura-based poet, artist, author and a pioneer of the contemporary animal rights movement. She co-founded Animal Liberation in 1976 and Animals Australia in 1980. She spent two decades helping animals in India where she and her husband Jeremy also founded two animal shelters. Upon her return to Australia, she obtained her doctorate in creative writing at the University of Sydney under David Brooks’ supervision. In 2019 she was awarded the Order of Australia for her contributions to animal protection. Christine died on 15 August 2025.

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Limited tickets are still available from https://events.humanitix.com/world-animal-day-raising-the-bar-for-nature/tickets

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