Dear Listeners and Salon Guests,   

This summer seemed to be more precious than ever. With most of us travelling again, we were able to savour being able to move around freely; something that until 2019, we’d just taken for granted. 

I’ve spent the past months in Australia and in various parts of Europe, visiting family and rekindling many projects that have been suspended for the past three years. 

This has also been the case for fellow salon founder, David Jackson, who is also away working and travelling for the rest of 2022. With this in mind, we have decided to put off our next Tall Poppies Talk salon until early 2023. We  look forward to welcoming you all again then. 

In the meantime, I have some exciting news from a recent podcast and salon guest.  Canberra born Matthew McDonald is principal double bassist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Professor for Double Bass at Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik, ‘Hans Eisler’. 

Those of us lucky enough to catch Matt’s salon in 2021 will recall he surprised us all by reciting a number of his poems. Matt now has an MA in poetry and, at the beginning of October, launched the publication “BerlinLit,” an international online journal for new poetry. He plans to publish issues quarterly. You will find the first issue here: 

Berlin Lit.

I recommend taking a look at this exciting anthology. And if you’d like to find out more about Matt, you can catch his Tall Poppies Talk podcast  here: 

Matthew McDonald, Principal Bass Berlin Philharmonic

Podcast News 

As I’ve travelled the past months, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many Tall Poppies podcast listeners. I’ve loved hearing your feedback and it’s encouraging to know so many people enjoy hearing about and, indeed, listening to these exceptional Australians. 

I’m currently producing the new series, to be released very soon. I have a few surprises for you in there, at times moving away from the regular format to introduce talented Australians doing incredible things to make a difference in the world.

Keep an ear out for the next episodes, or drop by the website at www.tall-poppies.com to browse the now substantial archive. Tall Poppies the Podcast is also available on most podcast platforms and Youtube.  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChxAbdinnZ8hVrpUD28IfDA

And last, but certainly not least, a big thank-you to my sponsors. Your support allows me to continue my research, interviewing, producing, publishing and maintaining the Tall Poppies Podcasts. If you’d like to contribute to the Tall Poppies project, you can donate directly here: 

Tall Poppies  Patreon 

For now wishing you happy listening.  Stay safe. 

Breandáin