No props. No music. No costumes. Just you, your words and a mic—you've got two minutes to make the crowd scream your name.

Miles Merrill, performance poet and founder of Australian Poetry Slam, and award-winning teacher Narcisa Nozica will take you from novice to spoken word superstar in no time. Twenty years after Merrill introduced slam poetry to Australia, there’s a national competition with a live audience of 20 000 people, and it’s taught in schools across the country. It’s been nothing short of a revolution!

With tips from stars of the Australian poetry slam scene, including best-selling author Maxine Beneba Clarke, Slam Your Poetry provides step-by-step instructions and exercises that will inspire you to:

1. Write a poem that pops
2. Rehearse like a winner
3. Wow your audience
4. Beat stage fright
5. Run a winning competition for your school or community group.

Part how-to guide, part masterclass, part manifesto, this book will help teachers, students and wannabe performance poets of all ages slam like a pro.

Koalas, kites and kangaroos, penguins and possums and pelicans too. Worm-eating wagtails and wombats at play, surf-riding seas on a hot summer’s day. Rabbits on roller-skates, lizards on land, card-playing crocodiles, shells on the sand.

Turn the pages and take a look at this wonderful, Australian alphabet book!

As the stock are slowly stringing,Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover’s life has pleasuresThat the townsfolk never know.

First published in 1889, Banjo Paterson’s iconic poem has been loved by generations. Capturing the grit of the city, and the longed-for freedom of the wide, open plains where Clancy rides, it is now published with stunning new illustrations by award-winning illustrator Andrew McLean