Desireé Dallagiacomo - SINK

American spoken-word poet Desireé Dallagiacomo discusses her incredible debut collection, SINK, which grapples with the intersections of family and mental health, and weighs the cost of what it is to be alive and a woman in a landscape that makes being both uninviting. 

As well as performing, Desireé will discuss SINK with a special guest to be announced soon! 

About the Book

SINK grapples with the intersections of family and mental health. It asks and answers hard questions about grief, lineage, death and all manner of inheritance. What is one left with when they come from a family that has nothing to its name but loss? 

Dallagiacomo weighs the cost of what it is to be alive and a woman in a landscape that makes being alive and a woman uninviting. SINK approaches grief and depression not as a tourist, but instead with the power and nuance of someone who has survived and made the most of their survival.

About the Author

Desireé Dallagiacomo is a full-time touring artist and educator originally from rural California. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and she has been a finalist at every major poetry slam in the USA. Her poems have been featured widely, and a collection of her work was adapted for the Vagina Monologues at Tulane University. 

She is the co-host of a Southern Poetry podcast, Drawl, and in 2016 she founded an annual writing retreat for working class writers. She has taught and performed extensively across the US, Canada, and Australia.  

About the Moderator

Alinora Tame is a 22 year old poet studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music -  they pride themselves on being overly emotional, doing far too much theatre, being an advocate  for affordable mental health care and awareness, and playing the  trumpet! Alinora performs poetry, music and comedy and has featured at  the Sydney Opera House, Parliament House in Canberra, the Sydney Writers Festival 2015 - 2019, internationally, and at venues,  high schools and slams all over the country!