ARIELLE COTTINGAM

2016 Australian Poetry Slam Champion, Arielle Cottingham is an Afro-Latina poet, performance artist, and dancer. She began performing spoken word in 2014 while studying at the University of Melbourne. In September 2015, she began a career as a full-time working performance poet, as well as creative producer of Slamalamadingdong. She published a chapbook in 2016, The Tarantist's Soapbox. Her first full book of poetry Black and Ropy was published in July 2017 with Pitt St. Poetry.

Arielle's writing probes the territory of the personal as the political, dealing heavily with themes of identity, heritage, history, and the roles they play in immediate, everyday interactions. Her performances incorporate elements of dance and physical theatre to create multidisciplinary pieces that have been described as both elegant and profoundly moving.