David Stavanger: Ghostboy

Storyteller/Performer, Entertainer, Author

Ghostboy is one of Australia’s premier young adult and children’s spoken word presenters.

He has hosted workshops, performances, talks and poetry slams to wide acclaim from students & teachers at the likes of Voices on the Coast, Whitsunday Voices, Somerset Writers Festival, and Brisbane Writers Festival’s WordPlay.

A live hybrid of performance poetry, spoken weird theatre and surrealist vaudeville Ghostboy has been a hit at many major festivals including Brisbane Writers, Sydney Writers, Byron Bay Writers, Tasmanian Poetry, Broken Hill Poetry, Woodford Folk Festival, and QLD Poetry Festivals.

Ghostboy is the world’s only vaguely legal “literary cannibal”.

Ghostboy will tour schools in South Australia in March 2012

Quotes & Testimonials I just sat down and strapped myself in for the ride as Ghostboy took the spoken word, twisted it, whispered it, made it roar and whimper, teased & caressed it in a wonderful performance of a fearless love for language. – The Sunday Mail

Ghostboy is an expert wordsmith … masterfully dealing out phrase upon phrase of lyrical goodness. He is a true showman with absolutely slamming poetry – Time Off Magazine

Where were you born?

I first emerged from the right kidney of host poet/writer & former psychologist David Stavanger. I was soon quarantined to a small suitcase following a diagnosis by the W.H.O of “acute performance poetry influenza” in 2005. I soon escaped though using just my wisdom teeth and a blunt pen, only to be outlawed as a “literary cannibal” due to my penchant for eating wild books and errant children.

What other jobs have you had?

Intern taxidermist; part time psychologist; casual editor; occasional reader; full time dreamer; and late night radio DJ.

What themes are recurring in your work?

Cats from outer space; digestive processes and recipes for skulls; love and other words that start with “L”; midnight seagulls; vampires driving manual cars; cannibal diaries.

What have been the highlights of your career?

Winning the Performance Poetry World Cup in 2005. Hitting the stage at the Sydney Opera House with a line-up of Australia’s finest spoken word artists. Having my poems published internationally including a piece selected for The Spoken Word Revolution:Redux alongside the words of Jeff Buckley, Ethan Hawke and Gil Scott-Heron. Receiving a Green Room nomination with art-rock-punk-poetry band Ghostboy with Golden Virtues. Performing my work live on Triple J and ABC Radio. Working in schools. My recent spoken word tour of the US. Cooking my first bully.

Haven’t I seen you before?

Look. Out. Your. Library. Window…………………Now.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

Some words, perhaps? A poem called Infected:

It started in my right (write) toe…..
the doctors said it was a cyst but I knew better:
I knew it was a first line!
Several months later I found the development
of a stanza in my stomach…
then to the intestine,
that’s where the poet finds their rhythm
finds their rhyme…
before I KNEW IT
my heart was beating to a haiku heartbeat:
5-7-5 5-7-5 5-7-5
the words got stuck in my throat
limericks licked my rib cage
words tattooed to this page of skin &
I WAS INFECTED!!!!
The World.Health.Organisation tracked me down
diagnosed me with
“Performance Poetry Influenza”
quarantined me to a small suitcase
never to be unlocked near a library
and re-named me in the process:

Ghostboy…

(“Infected” appears in The Spoken Word Revolution – Redux 2007, USA)