This year the Melbourne Poets Union (MPU) is celebrating 40 years at the Melbourne Immigration Museum, with its annual multilingual event.

Taking place this weekend, each year the event has a special theme and in 2017 it is A Poet’s Guide To Melbourne.

Originally coordinated by Marietta Elliot-Kleerekoper, it has been years since Dorothy Poulopoulos took the reins. Known for showcasing a broad range of poetic styles and voices in a variety of languages, this year Poulopoulos has set out to ensure the event is all-inclusive with poets representing various cultural backgrounds.

Performing on the day will be feature poet, Greek Australian PiO, along with Dina Amanatides, Kyriakos Amanatides, Wendy Flemming, Takanori Harakawa (Japanese-English), Sato and Sachiko (Tanka Poets), Eddie Creaney (Scottish-English), Barrie Cassidy, and Paul Dunell.

Dorothy will be the MC for the day, and will also be presenting her own poetry. Guest poets will present between three to five minutes, while feature poets will be on stage for 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, the coordinator is hoping to follow through next year with a poetry publication inspired by the Melburnian theme.

“I know of three books that have been published about Melbourne before, [but] this is different because it will include poetry in other languages too (as well as the English translation) to reflect the wider Melbourne Community,” Dorothy told Neos Kosmos.

“I want to make it all-inclusive.”

The MPU is a self-funded not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of poets and poetry in Victoria. They publish a bimonthly magazine POAM, host events across the state, run an annual international poetry competition, and publish chapbooks.

The Annual MPU (Melbourne Poets Union) Multilingual Event is on tomorrow, Sunday 22 October, at the Immigration Museum theatrette (400 Flinders St, Melbourne, VIC) from 2.00 – 4.30 pm. Free entry, and all welcome. For information and enquiries, email dorothypoulopoulos@gmail.com or melbournepoetsunion@gmail.com