Memory Book: Biographical poetry as a tool for listening to and celebrating older Australians

The Memory Book project1 arose from a discussion between the authors of this paper about the value of poetry and its uses outside the academy. As practising poets and scholars working in Australian universities and also in industry, we have extensive experience working with fellow poets and academics. However, for this project, we were interested in engaging members of our local community in the process of writing biographical poems—or poetic portraits of people's lives—to consider what role poetry might play in civic empowerment.