Who: Adults
When: Thursday 23 July | 6:30pm to 9pm
Where: The Joan
Tickets: $10 per person. Bookings are essential. 

Penrith City Library Service is excited to partner with the Australian Poetry Slam (APS) and Word Travels to deliver Penrith APS Heat! Join the nation-wide search for the people’s poet 

Poets Run This!    

Have you ever wanted to change the world with your words? You are invited to rip those scrawled leaves of passion from your notebook and ignite them on stage. 

Every year since 2007, Word Travels runs Australian Poetry Slam (APS) heats and wordshops in over 60 locations across the Asia-Pacific. APS is the cupped hand amplifying the shouts of over 2000 new and emerging writers annually. 

Share your words for two minutes on the mic. By throwing your ideas into the slam-storm, you could be chosen as the 2026 Australian Poetry Slam-bassador and offered an international writers’ festival tour worth about $20K. Use your poems to spark new dreams, clear out cobweb memes or offer listeners a sturdy eucalypt branch with a better view. This is your call. 

Get up. Gather at your local slam. Share with your community.  Jump on the mic or listen, cheer and hold-up scorecards as part of the audience in this international celebration of spoken-wordsmiths. Electrify us. Show the world how POETS RUN THIS! 

This APS Heat audience will send two writers to represent Penrith in a performance at the Sydney Final. The top 16 in the country make it to the National Final at Sydney Opera House on the 25th of October.  So, what are you waiting for? Poets get ready to wrap your fingers around the mic and strut your stuff! 

Keen to perform?
Please purchase a ticket using the ‘buy tickets’ button and arrive at the theatre at least 15 minutes prior to the performance start time to sign up. Poets of all experience levels are invited to enter and must perform in their residing state or territory and nearest heat.

Full APS ‘25 rules can be found at www.australianpoetryslam.com/rules 

Prefer to watch?You don’t have to compete, join the audience and watch the slam in action – simply click the ‘buy tickets’ button to book now. 

Hosted by DEFNE 
DEFNE is a queer and neurodivergent Turkish-Australian multidisciplinary artist. Her work spans writing, performance, music and photography with a style that’s definitely hers. She is the Creative Director & Host of West Side Poetry Slam in Parramatta. DEFNE has featured at State Library NSW, Art Gallery NSW, Riverside Theatres, and the Sydney Opera House twice as part of Bankstown Grand Slam, her 2025 team winning bronze. She performed poetry-and-song show, “DEFNE Opens Up”, at Flight Path Theatre, and her play, “Stomach It”, through OutLoud.  

DEFNE’s work explores relationships in all their forms—romantic, familial, platonic, or with ourselves, mental health, abuse, or culture. Currently, she’s excited to expand into poetry theatre. A self-reclaimed drama queen, the world’s her runway she overruns with shared vulnerability and revolutionary intimacy.   

Doors open/poet sign-up at: 6pm. Slam starts at: 6:30pm   

Content Warning: Most Poetry Slams are all ages, and some content may not be suitable for children. Performances may include strong language and / or adult themes.    Australian Poetry Slam is presented by Word Travels.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW. Also supported by Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Mumbai LitFest, Singapore Writers Festival and Byron Writers Festival.    

Click here to book now

Who: Adults
When: Tuesday 28 July  | 6:30-7:30pm
Where: Penrith City Library
Tickets: $5 per person. Bookings are essential. 

To celebrate Library & Information Week, join bestselling Australian author Dianne Yarwood, discussing her new novel Margaret, are you Leaving? at Penrith City Library.  

About the book
An uplifting and life-affirming novel about family lost and found from the author of Australian bestseller The Wakes. Sydney, 2001. Now in her forties, Maggie Reid has built a good life for herself, surrounded by good people. She has an adorable but needy dog and a new relationship. She has tried hard to leave her painful past behind her, but when her beloved brother Lucas calls with news of their adopted mother's death, he also delivers a bombshell about Maggie's birth mother. So begins an uncertain, bumpy journey to trace her mother's identity, a quest that brings fresh heartbreak but also unexpected joy. Maggie's spent her whole life leaving, but now, for the first time, will she feel like staying? 

About the Author
Dianne Yarwood grew up in Newcastle and worked in accounting and corporate advisory in Sydney and London. She also nurtured a love for cooking and reading. At the age of forty, with three young children, she became very ill and her life was saved by an emergency doctor. This brush with mortality gave her the courage to do what she's always wanted to do - write. Her first novel, The Wakes, was an Australian bestseller. Dianne lives in Sydney with her husband.

Purchase books from the QBD pop-up bookstore at the event and have them signed by the author.

Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment for all. If you require any accommodations to attend this event please contact 02 47327891. 

Click here to book now

Who: Adults
When: Thursday 30 July | 10:30am-12:30pm
Where: Penrith City Library
Tickets: Free. Bookings are essential.

Join us for a special Library and Information Week screening of Healing (Rated M), starring Hugo Weaving and Don Hany and inspired by true events. 

Healing follows Viktor Khadem (Don Hany), a long-term inmate nearing the end of his prison sentence, who is transferred to a low-security correctional facility in rural Victoria. There, under the guidance of compassionate prison officer Matt Perry (Hugo Weaving), he becomes part of a unique rehabilitation program in which inmates care for injured birds of prey.

Initially withdrawn and broken, Viktor forms an unexpected bond with a wounded wedge-tailed eagle. Through the process of nurturing and training the bird, he begins to confront his past and rediscover a sense of purpose.

Healing explores themes of forgiveness, trust, and the transformative power of compassion, showing how even the most unlikely environment can foster personal renewal. 

Enjoy a morning of cinema, connection, and conversation in a relaxed and welcoming setting. Light refreshments will be served.

Click here to book now

Who: Adults
When: Wednesday 29 July | 10:30am-12pm
Where: St Marys Library
Tickets: Free. Bookings are essential.

Join Services Australia at St Marys Library to learn about the Age Pension and other support available for older Australians.

This free information session will help older Australians understand the Age Pension and other government supports. Learn about eligibility, payments, working while receiving the pension, myGov, and how to access additional help. The session is designed to be clear, practical, and easy to understand, with time for questions. 

Topics covered:

• Australia’s Social Security Agreements
• Working while you get Age Pension
• How to claim Age Pension
• MyGov and how to create one
• Other support for older Australians 

Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided. 

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment for all. If you require any accommodations to attend this event, please contact 02 47327891.

Click here to book now

Who: Adults
When: Thursday 23 July | 10:30am-12pm
Where: Penrith City Library
Tickets: Free. Bookings are essential.

Join us for a comprehensive Financial Fitness talk presented by Services Australia, designed to help you take charge of your financial life with confidence.

This engaging session will cover key areas of everyday financial management, including:

• Taking charge
• Debt basics
• Creating savings
• Insurance 

Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided. 

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment for all. If you require any accommodations to attend this event, please contact 02 47327891.

Click here to book now