Poetry Month X Interplay: Conversations

Conversations, a Feast of Poetry & Music is Nexus Arts first spoken word event, featuring artists from the 2026 Interplay cohort. As select artists share their poetry, another will respond with accompanying music, forming a collaborative multi-artform conversation.

Conversations features five exciting artists based in Kaurna Country: Praise Mangena; Xueqian Zhang; Elizabeth Ruyi; Meena De Silva; and Felix Wang.

Praise Mangena is a Zimbabwean-Australian artist creating on Kaurna Country. Her current focus is on the alchemy of music, movement and spoken word poetry in live performance.

Xueqian Zhang is a bilingual singer-songwriter, poet, MC, and storyteller from China with a unique music practice that blends her cultural heritage with contemporary storytelling and performance.

Elizabeth Ruyi is a singer-songwriter whose sound drifts between soul and indie, coloured by vibrant dream-pop tones. She writes lyrics that explore culture, love, belonging and mindfulness.

Meena De Silva is a Sri-Lankan Australian pop/R&B artist and singer with a strong classical foundation. She plays piano, violin, and trombone, and writes, records and performs original music.

Felix Wang is a Chinese-Australian vocalist, huqin (Chinese fiddle) musician, and producer who explores the dialogue between voice and strings, blending vocals with the expressive timbre of the Erhu.