Mother Tongue Poetry is an organisation passionate about supporting the voices of women, and gender diverse people who align with womanhood.

The organisation centres around our live events and has become Melbourne’s biggest Women’s Spoken Word event and one of the most established Spoken Word events in the city. It is hosted and run by Fleassy Malay and Katie Lohner. A place for Passionate, Powerful, Vulnerable and Honest performance.

We have been running since 2012 and have evolved from a monthly event to the incorporated Not For Profit organisation it is today. Mother Tongue Poetry supports marginalised voices through live and hybrid events, digital platforming and community workshops and activation programs. We also align and partner with other events and organisations. In the past, we have worked with the Melbourne Writers Festival, Seven Sisters Festival, Rainbow Serpent Festival, Melbourne Spoken Word, Australian Poetry Slam, Banyule City Council and more.

We platform all forms of voices, including written poetry, comedy, rap, song and storytelling, but we have a particular fondness for spoken word. Some of these stories are hard to hear, others are filled with joy and sensuality.

Mother Tongue is proud to have been a catalytic force in the emergence of many incredibly talented writers and performers.

Katie Lohner

Pronouns: She/Her
Position: Co-host and event coordinator

Rowan White

Pronouns: He/Him
Position: Door Puppy

Rowan is one of our longest running volunteers, and has been the smiling face on our door greeting you as you arrive since our inception in 2012. Rowan is a talented poet himself.

Our Volunteers

Mother Tongue Poetry relies on the generous support of our volunteers. From our board members to our large rotating community of on-site events volleys.

We are incredibly grateful to each and every one of them for the time, love, and commitment they put in to make Mother Togue Poetry what it is.

Katie Lohner

Pronouns: She/They
Position: Chairperson

Piper Huynh

Pronouns: She/Her
Position: Treasurer

Piper Huynh is a purpose-led leader and impact-driven community event producer passionate about untold stories and intercultural connection. With extensive experience spanning local government, venue operations, creative producing, stage management, and facilitation, she brings a collaborative, solutions-focused approach to building welcoming, safe, and engaging spaces. Piper has a proven track record of leading multidisciplinary teams, overseeing department budgets, and co-designing community activations and partnerships that drive participation, connection, and culture. Driven by a commitment to working alongside diverse populations, her work ensures operational excellence and community collaboration remain key priorities. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration and is currently completing her Master’s in Business Administration (Change Management).

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins

Pronouns: She/Her
Position: Secretary

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins is a community organiser, climate-justice advocate and spoken-word poet based in Darebin. On the Mother Tongue board, Carmen brings three decades of strengths-based community development, grantcraft and program design across arts, health and climate. They coordinate climate-resilience initiatives with the Darebin Neighbourhood House Network run the Span Community Garden and founded Community Talks Sex, a parent education series. Carmen holds a Master of Public Policy (RMIT) focused on neighbourhood houses as cooling centres, serves on the Darebin Gender Equity Committee, and was a Darebin Citizen of the Year nominee. 

Brigid Morgan

Pronouns: She/Her
Position: General Board Member

Brigid has been part of Mother Tongue since 2017, moving from the event and operations team to the board in 2020, where she has served as Secretary and Co-Chair. A dramaturg across theatre, performance and live art, she is also a performer, writer, arts educator and facilitator, with a background in dance, physical theatre and circus. She holds a Master of Theatre (Dramaturgy) from the VCA, where her research focused on First Nations dramaturgies and decolonising practice from a settler ally perspective. Her own work has been presented at La Mama Explorations, Hillscene Live Arts and Fringe festivals nationally, and she has presented and run Mother Tongue events at Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival and Melbourne Writers Festival. Her recent work includes Reliquary, Darling, a durational performance installation, and a quit-lit memoir in progress. She brings a feminist, anti-racist and ally lens to everything she makes and does.

Hal Simons

Pronouns: He/Him
Position: General Board Member

Hal Simons is a polyamorous, nerdy, queer, kinky, caffeine-fuelled poet, feminist, gamer, and bibliophile. He is often found frequenting Melbourne’s open mic nights or curled up in a cafe with a good book and drinking his weight in coffee. He likes short walks on long piers, impractical-length hugs that last hours, receiving presents, and objects that exist in either less than, or more than, three dimensions. He lives in the inner north with a lovely housemate, mountains of books, mediocre internet, a pet rock, and a dead plant that he stubbornly refuses to get rid of.

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