Interview with an APS Finalist: Grant Teunissen
Last September, we caught up with 2023 Australian Poetry Slam Sydney Finalist Grant Teunissen. Read about Grant's experience writing and performing poetry, and what the poetry community means to him.
Grant Teunissen – photo credit: Zoe Ortiz
What motivated you to perform your poetry on stage?
I've been writing my entire life, ever since I knew how to write, and I've been producing content of various kinds for a long time. Once I saw the community at my local poetry slam, I felt so strongly that I knew I had to perform mine.
How does it feel to be representing Wollongong in the NSW Final?
Absolutely unreal – I had decided to perform on stage before I knew that it was going to be for the APS heat, and to have gotten the positive reception I did was amazing.
What does a poetry community mean to you?
It means a space that is open and forthcoming with, and receptive to, genuine expressions of emotion and thought that can't be contained. It's a space where I feel comfortable sharing truths about myself with strangers, and using language to shape our understandings of each other.
Who are your favourite storytellers and why?
Jerry Holkins, because he has such an incredible grip on the English language and uses his precision in word choice to be emotionally evocative in a way that brings me to tears.
Simon Stålenhag, because he started with painting things that were meaningful and fun to him, and wove narrative out of the emergent stories from his paintings. And my close friends, who have both the way with words and the benefit of years of knowing each other that lets them meet me exactly where I am to tell me a story I never would have stumbled across on my own.
What is your favourite word or phrase?
Sehnsucht – a German word for an emotion that doesn't have a direct English translation. I like that it reminds me that the things I'm feeling don't need to have a word or rigid definition to fit them; it's okay to feel things that I don't have words for.
Grant Teunissen is a collector of hobbies who lives on Dharawal Country, works in IT, and has been writing stories and poems since he was able to write words. Enjoying leathercrafting, cosplay, and videography, Grant indulges in many forms of self-expression, but has only recently begun performing poetry.
