Yarra Valley Spoken Word 9th Oct 2026 Catherine Warner Feature Poet

It is with great pride and pleasure that we welcome Catherine Warner as Feature Poet again for Yarra Valley Spoken Word Oct 2026.

She last held the spotlight on the carpet in the Dome exactly 3 years ago, in October of 2023.

We are very pleased to present her Bio this month – a cuppa is recommended however, to enjoy it fully, as it’s more of an autobiography – of one of our most beloved contributing community members!

Catherine Warner was born in Scotland of a Scottish father and a French mother. Her childhood and adolescence were divided between the school year in Scotland and summer holidays in the French family residence not far north of Paris in Montsoult, then a sleepy village, now a large dormitory town of Paris.

Over the years she has acquired proficiency not only in English and French, but also in German, Spanish and Japanese. These languages have enabled her to be a globetrotter. Her first tentative travels were in Europe, then expanded to several continents upon marriage to her husband, Jack Warner. From the age of 23, she has lived in Geneva (Switzerland), Boulder (Colorado, USA), Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, and Japan.

Her first job was as a secretary for the Scottish Coal Board where she was amazed to be paid for something she enjoyed doing. Her next job was at a knitwear factory doing studies in time management. After stints of temporary secretarial work in London and Sydney, she was a free-lance typist in Boulder for a short while, then ran 3 levels of French classes in her home for two and a half years. The short French plays she wrote for her advanced class were much enjoyed by her students. On completing her Monash degree in Japanese and Japanese Studies, she tutored a few university students in Japanese, then taught evening classes at Japan Seminar House in South Vermont and day classes at NEC, Mulgrave for 18 months before moving to the Yarra Valley.

Over 38 years, Catherine has sponsored and corresponded in Spanish with 4 different children in Honduras through Plan International and visited one of them. These sponsorships greatly enriched her experience.

The eternal student: Whilst Catherine has studied languages intensely from her childhood until her forties, one aspect of her Japanese Studies was Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language. In the year 2000 she received the diploma of Teaching English as a Second Language from Holmesglen TAFE. And in 2002 she earned the Rudolf Steiner Advanced Diploma of Education. Since then, Catherine’s studies in personal development – begun in 1997 through attendance for four years at the Gnana Yoga Foundation –  intensified into becoming her major focus, learning much about human nature in the process.

Catherine’s interest in writing poetry began in her mid-twenties, initially as a way of sorting out her emotions and also attempting to express her enjoyment of nature. Over the years her poetry has covered many topics – anything from poems resolving conflicts, poems of a spiritual or whimsical nature, to poems about the human condition.

She has also performed 3 times at Healesville’s very popular The Spoken Word – True Stories Brought to Life run by Sunderai Felich at The Memo. It is quite a challenge to shape a story that is to be told within 7 minutes.

She has published one book for children aged 4 to 8 years old containing two stories:
The Speck of Dust  and Rosa and the Pomegranates. As well as the stories being engaging, the font used and irregular line endings make this book more easily readable for dyslexic children.

Catherine only learnt about her dyslexia aged 69 on attending an event on the topic at the Edinburgh International Book Fair. This is how she came to understand how she prefers writing over direct communication as it gives her more time to think and how she has come to value all the hard work she put in in her growing years which required her to persevere for many long hours sitting trying to learn. She still has trouble getting her letters in the right order whether writing or typing and may occasionally still use the wrong words.

Catherine always has a pen and paper handy, for writing is her passion. She has many travel diaries, dream and meditation diaries and her poetry collection is forever growing.

Welcome to our Yarra Valley Spoken Word Community.

The original custodians of the Yarra Valley were the Wurundjeri people. Their wisdom travelled through time in songs, art, stories, mentorship and dance. We acknowledge this land’s indigenous ancestors and elders, oral historians of the dream-time. This poetry gathering sits on the shoulders of countless generations of wisdom keepers and spoken word story tellers.

We meet at The Dreaming Space Dome at Yarra Valley ECOSS, Wesburn on the second Friday of the month and welcome you to join us and share your musings.

Ours is a space to share the power of the spoken word, be inspired by our community of artists and learn to write and share life’s depths through this life changing art form.

Families are welcome until after supper, we have a feature artist each month and then Open Mic.

Spoken Word is an inclusive project.
Entry and Supper is by donation, we never turn people away!
Suggested Donation:
$15 Full / $10 Concession
$5 Supper, $5 Chai

Program
6pm – Doors open/Music/chat/settle
6.30 – Poetry workshop & open mic
7.00 – Supper
7.30 – Feature poet (12yrs+)
8.00 – Open mic
9.00 – Chai & Chat

We request punctuality, and silent, respectful listening during performances.

For more information call Andy: 0415 734 744 or Chris: 0414 306 772
or search Yarra Valley Spoken Word on Facebook or Yarra Valley ECOSS website.