Poetry becomes song: Middle of the Air winning songs revealed with DOBBY and Leah Senior

In August, ABC Radio National and Red Room Poetry put out the call for Australian poets to submit new poems to be set to music by two great local musicians, DOBBY and Leah Senior. Now, to mark the end of AusMusic Month, the two winning poems, and the songs that they have become, are premiered on The Music Show. Andy talks to DOBBY, Leah, and the two winning poets Cate Kennedy and Giles Watson, as well as David Stavanger and Nicole Smede of Red Room Poetry to celebrate the alchemy of song: how music and words combine to affect each other's meaning and make something completely new.

Plus, to mark Jane Austen's 250th anniversary, a dive into Austen's relationship with music, with academic Gillian Dooley. 

And we remember Guy Ghouse (1969-2025), the Western Australian musician who, with his collaborator and wife Gina Williams, brought Noongar language music and opera to the fore.