One of the region’s most beloved and prolific journalists Jackie Pearson will launch her freshly published poetry book, Mother’s Song, at Tuggerah’s Red Tree Theatre this Friday evening, November 25.
Pearson will be donating part of the proceeds from book sales to the 16 Days of Activism campaign against domestic violence.
“I was about five or six when I wrote my first poem,” she said.
“A great uncle gave me a book called the Children’s Golden Treasury of Poetry for Christmas and I got hooked.
“I loved the metaphors and imagery and I’ve been writing my own poems ever since. I can still recite the first poem I wrote, if you ask me!”
Pearson had dreams of becoming a “world famous poet” but worked out at about age 12 that “all the famous poets were poor and/or long dead”.
“I decided I needed to find a way to make money out of doing what I loved – writing – and that’s how I became a journalist,” she said.
“I reconnected with poetry in a serious way when we moved to the Central Coast in 2001 and I discovered Central Coast Poets Inc.
“Quite a few of the poems that made it into Mother’s Song were workshopped during the decade that I was a member.
“I was so privileged to have guidance from past members including Joan Bean, Kenneth Tolhurst and Mary Hawthorne – names that long-term locals may recall.”
Peartson has had poems published in anthologies but Mother’s Song, published by Ginninderra Press, is the first time she has pulled together a collection of her own work.
“This collection is about what it is like to be a Generation X woman,” she said.
“It is about being a mother, as the title suggests, but it’s about many other things.
“The poems explore nature, relationships, the complexities of family, politics and war.
“Mother’s Song includes poems about love, loss and everything in between.”
Pearson has decided to launch the book at the beginning of the 2022 UN 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence.
“In 2020 I made a conscious decision to transition from being a journalist to an activist writer,” she said.
“I decided to spend the remainder of my productive years writing and publishing about environmental justice, social justice and good governance or ESG.
“It seems fitting to devote the launch of my first poetry collection to raising awareness and funds for a social justice issue that impacts so many – family violence and violence against women and children.
“I will be donating $1 from every copy of Mother’s Song sold to the Central Coast Domestic Violence Committee Inc.
“It’s a small gesture but every little bit helps; we all need to be having conversations and participating in the 16 Days of Activism.”
The launch of Mother’s Song will take place at the Red Tree Theatre, Tuggerah, at 6.30pm on Friday, November 25.
Interested parties are asked to contact the author directly by sending an email to: jackie@thepoint.net.au.
Mother’s Song is available for purchase via Amazon as a paperback or e-book as well as
through: ginninderrapress.com.au and www.thepoint.net.au/shop/
Sources: Media release and audio interview. November 21, 2022
Note: Jackie Pearson was a previous journalist and editor at Central Coast Newspapers