Em König

Em König is a queer poet and sound-maker who lives and works on stolen Kaurna Yerta.

Em’s poetry and prose have been published extensively in journals and anthologies including in Cordite, Rabbit, Meniscus, Red Room, SWAMP and On Dit, and their debut full-length collection, ‘Breathing Plural’, was published by Cordite Books in 2020. Em has performed their poetry extensively as an invited guest at spoken word events for the Emerging Writer’s Festival, Feast Festival, SALA Festival and is a regular performer at No Wave Poetry Readings in Adelaide. Em has also been a contributing artist to Fine Print Magazine’s live issue and FELTspace’s FELTexchange program.

Em was a founding member of experimental electronic music and performance duo GIRL (formerly Winter Witches), who existed as both a touring and recording band as well as creators of immersive, large-scale, sound-based performance works. GIRL toured nationally and were nominated for several South Australian Music awards. With the support of local and federal government funding, GIRL created two fulllength sound-based performance works – ‘Sentients’ and ‘Masc’. Sentients, which was performed across a four-night season at Hart’s Mill as part of Climate Century Festival (Vitalstatistix), was an immersive concert-style performance of songs and soundscapes based around themes of animal agriculture and climate change. ‘Masc’ which premiered at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute as part of Critical Mass, was a conceptual performance work based around questions and themes of masculinity and queerness. Em also releases music under the moniker Nina in Ecstasy.

Em is currently completing their PhD in creative writing at the University of Adelaide with a thesis entitled: ‘Breathing Plural/Plural Breathing: Contemporary approaches to queering ecopoetics’.

Throughout 2021, Em will be developing ‘Emission’ with their long-time collaborator Jason Sweeney. Emission will premiere across a six-night season at Vitalstatistix and will be an immersive experimental sound experience for intimate audiences.