Words on Art and Life with Clark Gormley

Don’t miss the chance to hear one of Australia’s most distinctive creative voices share insights into his unusual and wide-ranging career.

Clark Gormley is a folk-pop musician (one half of duo, Nerds & Music) and writer whose work blends wit, storytelling and musical invention. He is the creator of Sydney the Folk Musical, a bold production featuring 17 original songs, a live folk band and a Greek chorus, and is currently developing his next project, The Throne, co-written with James Carter. The work is a sequel to a Newcastle cult live radio-style play about a sterling silver toilet that famously found its way to the Newcastle steelworks site to serve Her Majesty during the 1954 royal visit.

Clark has written and performed multiple one-man shows including Up the Nerdsville Track, Dial N for Nerder, and Clark’s Nerdy Science Show, appearing at festivals across Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide Fringe, Tamworth Country Music Festival, as well as theatres, bowls clubs and sheds across the country. With Rob Edmonds he created and performed Failure to Launch, a stage show using way too many props, where they perform original poems wearing Mr Squiggle outfits.

A natural poet, Clark has been involved with Poetry at the Pub in Newcastle for 30 years, including 11 as president, written a couple of books of poetry, most recently Not What You Think (Flying Island Books), a collection of poems that uses wit and wordplay to explore the hidden stories of everyday life. From watching birds to venetian blinds and nonsense rhymes, Gormley’s poetry adds lustre to things we know so well that we often stop thinking about them.

Beyond the stage and page, Clark reached the finals of SBS’s Australia’s Mastermind in 2024 and, in a surprising parallel career, is also a qualified chemical engineer.

Host: Danny Gardner is a prolific poet, seasoned presenter and passionate advocate for poetry and storytelling. With decades of experience championing Sydney’s creative voices, Danny brings warmth, insight and curiosity to each conversation.

This is a free event open to all ages.

We aim to present inclusive and accessible events. If you have any particular access or communication needs, please contact our cultural programs coordinator on 02 9265 9333 or pinestreet@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au