This DIY underground Preston spot is stacking a book launch, zine fair and live readings into one community-focused afternoon.
A Preston book launch for Melbourne-based poet Jordan J. Cassells’ new release, Stonefruit, is turning into a full and wonderful creative community gathering.
Presented by Golden Silhouette and Love Letter, the Stonefruit launch is opening its doors well beyond one book.
Alongside performances, readings and stories from Cassells, the event doubles as a full book and zine fair, with local writers, poets and creatives invited to bring their own work along, read on the day, and set up a table to sell whatever they’ve made, whether that’s a zine, handmade jewellery or something funkier to categorise.
It’s shaping up as a proper grassroots gathering, built as much around the wider creative community as it is around any single release.
Stonefruit launch – Preston
- Saturday 12 of September, 12pm to 5pm
- Preston
- Donation entry
Feature poets
Other works by
- Sarah Masson
- Freakazoid
- James Alfred Podhorodecki and Kial Menadue
- + more (could be you!)
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Anyone keen to grab a table and sell their own work on the day, whether it’s poetry, zines, prints or anything in between, can get in touch directly at [email protected].
It’s an open invitation, and organisers are keeping a handful of spots free for whoever wants to jump in closer to the date.
At the centre of it all is Stonefruit itself, a 200-page multi-disciplinary archive that weaves together narrative-driven poetry, travel photography and personal journals from three years of Cassells’ life, following on from his 2021 debut, The House of Honesty.
Rather than reading like a traditional collection, the book plays out like a visual diary of a life mid-transition, moving between life-drawing studies, brushes with the paranormal and quietly observed moments of everyday life, with the cover art courtesy of Sacha Pola.
“It’s a book about the ‘invisible chapters’ of one’s life: the slow realisations that eventually lead us back to ourselves.”
The seeds of Stonefruit were planted in September 2024, not long after Cassells released his second album and returned from a three-month stint overseas.
Craving a reset, he set off on a self-supported, 680-kilometre trek along Australia’s east coast, thru-hiking, hitchhiking and stealth-camping with little more than a bivvy bag, a tarp and a sleeping pad.
For three months, the pack on his back was the closest thing he had to a home, and it left him chasing a simpler, stripped-back way of living that had been calling him for years.
Writing became inseparable from the walking. On days he wasn’t covering 15 to 25 kilometres on foot, Cassells was sitting somewhere scribbling for the sake of it, worried that stopping might mean losing the thread altogether.
Much of Stonefruit was written in those in-between moments on the road.
“After years of shedding skin after skin, I proudly announce the launch of my second book titled ‘Stonefruit’. I’ll be performing songs, reading poems and sharing some stories from the book. Alongside me, I have some terribly talented friends performing and selling some of their work with me.”
“When I finally tasted the end of this damned book, I felt like abandoning it. I came so close, feeling that the act of writing it fulfilled its purpose alone; that it never needed to see the light of day.
“With gentle nudges from loved ones, some of my own spit in the eye and just enough drive to honour the old self—it’s happening. I see this not only as a way to celebrate the efforts of a previous self, but to hold a space for others to share.
“I wanted this to become something larger than this book, or myself. This is about community.
“After many years of believing you’re an island, you become aware pretty quickly that no one moves through this alone. This book was born from that place, but I intend to make sure it goes with good company. So, dear friends, strangers and family, let’s make a fair of it.”
Donation entry will be used to fund the event and pay artists.
For more information, head here.
