Our 2024 SubscriberDrive is Here!
Australian Poetry (AP) is the peak national body for poetry in Australia. AP exists to support the full breadth of poetry produced in this country. Our role is to represent Australian poetry and its poets, nationally and internationally. Australian poetry is diverse and rich – both in its contemporary manifestations and its heritage. Our mission is to showcase and celebrate this. AP undertakes this mission with ethical integrity and a commitment to cultural safety of all kinds. A deep respect for First Nations Cultural Protocols underpins all that we do in our publishing, commissioning and presenting of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander poetry. This has been central to AP’s ongoing engagement with the oldest continuous poetic tradition in the world.
AP undertakes 3 core activities to further this vision:
- AP showcases the best in Australian Poetry
- AP showcase the breadth and diversity of stories told by Australian poets
- AP connects Australians with the stories, places, and feelings embodied in Australian poetry.
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Ever thought about buying a subscription to Australia Poetry, purchasing one for a pal, or has your subscription recently lapsed? Well, this is your moment! If you subscribe, renew or gift a subscription between now of November and the 8th of January you could win big! We love our subscribers (in fact, we couldn’t survive without you), that’s why we’re showering you with goodies across the month, to be given out after we return from the summer break 13 January. All prizes have been generously donated to AP and we’re very excited to share them with you.
To subscribe: https://www.australianpoetry.org/subscribe/
Yearly subscriptions start at just $45 and include 3 publications a year, a new regularly monthly newsletter featuring events, opportunities and Subscribers’ own poetry news, the opportunity to submit to Australian Poetry Anthology, free promotion of events, and other perks along the way.
Already a subscriber but don’t wanna miss out? No worries! Simply purchase a new subscription, we’ll top up your existing subscription and add you to the draw.
Please note that this offer is not valid for our U 30s subscription option.
FIND OUR FULL LIST OF PRIZES AND PACKS BELOW:
Prizes at $1,000 each
Worth a mega $1,000 one lucky SubscriberDrive winner will be gifted an Australian Poetry Lifetime Subscription.
Sponsored by AP Chair, Martin Dolan, you could win a manuscript assessment with none other than the Prime Minister’s Literary Award winner (Poetry, 2022), Andy Jackson, also valued at $1,000. For up to 80 pages, with Andy providing written feedback and notes. A prodigious, powerful poet, Andy is also known for his vast poetry knowledge. He also teaches creative writing at the University of Melbourne.
AP’s annual Two-for-One offer: Every one in the Drive is a winner
Join, renew or extend your Subscription and you will be contacted in January to nominate another person to whom to give a complimentary one-year Digital Subscription (value, $50). This is the third year we are running this. It is wonderful as it also brings new poetry lovers into our community.
AP Book Packs
The full four-volume set of the Best of Australian Poems series. This is a seriously valuable prize: RRP is $140 for a start but the range of poetry across the 400+ poems is a masterclass in what Australian poets are writing and publishing. There are two SubscriberDrive packs only!
Australian Poetry Publications book packs, titles selected from across 2011-2024, with two winners receiving these rare packs of past AP Journals and Anthologies. There are two SubscriberDrive packs here too.
Single book prizes
AP has been donated three copies of THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO AUSTRALIAN POETRY (just released) to give to three SubscriberDrive winners. Thanks also to Ann Vickery.
Cambridge University Press is pleased to announce the publication of The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry edited by Ann Vickery.
An invaluable resource for staff and students in literary studies and Australian studies, this volume is the first major critical survey on Australian poetry. It investigates poetry’s central role in engaging with issues of colonialism, nationalism, war and crisis, diaspora, gender and sexuality, and the environment. Individual chapters examine Aboriginal writing and the archive, poetry and activism, print culture, and practices of internationally renowned poets such as Lionel Fogarty, Gwen Harwood, John Kinsella, Les Murray, and Judith Wright. The Companion considers Australian leadership in the diversification of poetry in terms of performance, the verse novel, and digital poetries. It also considers Antipodean engagements with Romanticism and Modernism.
AP has been donated a copy of the extraordinary The Selected Visual Poems of Catherine Vidler. Thanks to Nicholas Smith, Andy Carruthers, Toby Fitch and SoD Press.
Catherine Vidler (1973-2023) was one of Australia’s foremost visual and lyric poets. This book presents some of her major visual sequences. Vidler assembled this volume before she passed away. The work in this Selected is a testament to the vastness of her visual imagination. Has 282 full colour images. Purchasing is available at: https://www.lulu.com/shop/catherine-vidler/the-selected-visual-poems-of-catherine-vidler/paperback/product-7ky2q49.html?srsltid=AfmBOor6aJKDFz7GzB_Rrhdw2qNfzaKjpKxybirV21j_M7mohDwByela&page=1&pageSize=4 And pdf at: https://s0d.info/2023_CVSVP_S0d.pdf
Sponsored by the poet themselves, we have one copy of Nam Le’s 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem (Scribner).
Only 250 copies were printed and you can’t buy it because it’s not for sale. Now down to only 100 remaining copies, we say Thanks to the UNESCO Melbourne City of Literature Office, David Ryding and Panda Wong, for donating one highly rare volume, Poet Laureates of Melbourne.
It’s 50 years next year since the Balibo Five were murdered in Timor, which is the heart of this highly selling rock ‘n roll and activist memoir, All the Rage (Melbourne Books). Paulie Stewart OAM is an Australian rock legend whose then 21-year-old older brother was one of the journalists killed. Paulie’s also a legend of the movement advocating for the freedom of East Timor and West Papua. Donated by Paulie Stewart, who is part of Jacinta’s extended family.
https://melbournebooks.com.au/products/paulie-stewart-all-the-rage
Subscriptions / Memberships Prizes to some of our most wonderful literary partners in the country
The Wheeler Centre is pleased to offer a complimentary membership. By becoming a member you will join the devoted community of writers, readers and thinkers who call the Centre home. Be among the first to know about Wheeler Centre ticket releases, get a 10% discount to Wheeler Centre ticketed events, access partner and Resident Organisation offers, and so much more! (Value, $40 per year) https://www.wheelercentre.com/
Emerging Writers’ 2025 Festival: A full weekend pass to the 2025 National Writers’ Conference will get you access to all panels, workshops and discussions held at this exclusive annual conference for writers within the heart of Melbourne at The Wheeler Centre. As part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival, the coming National Writers’ Conference will be held in September 2025. A full weekend pass is valued at $100, and this prize can be exchanged for a Digital Pass for those outside Victoria. Learn more about the National Writers’ Conference and EWF: https://emergingwritersfestival.org.au/
Overland Print Subscription, one-year, as a gift from Overland. (Value, $70 per year)
“Overland – Australia’s only radical literary magazine – has been showcasing brilliant and progressive fiction, poetry, nonfiction and art since 1954. The magazine has published some of Australia’s most iconic writers, and continues to give space to underrepresented voices and brand-new literary talent every single day.” https://overland.org.au/
Express Media Voiceworks Print Subscription for writers Under 25 years old but for readers of all ages! Three issues. (Value, $70 a year) https://www.expressmedia.org.au/
Writers Victoria Subscription, one-year, as a gift from Writers Victoria. AP Subscribers also receive full discounts on all WV poetry workshops, including online workshops which can be accessed no matter your location. (Value, $75 per year) https://writersvictoria.org.au/
TAROT PRIZE WITH Georgia/George Kartas
Check this stunning, impactful tarot (image and poetry text) digital project by Georgia/George Kartas and Madison Griffiths: https://crawlspace.cool/causality Full bios and notes on how to do your own online reading is at this link…. One of the poems (image and text, ‘The Empress’), is also in the BEST OF AUSTRALIAN POEMS 2024. But the prize here is:
An actual reading by Georgia/George, either in person or via audio message or photos (no video meeting is available). Deep thank-you to G. for this.
Reading Packs
We’ve got a bunch of big book packs to give away and we could not do this without the annual-in, annual-out ongoing support of so much poetry publisher supporters.
A big shout out to:
Magabala Books (First Nations) https://magabala.com.au/ Includes Bebe Oliver’s new if this is the end
Cordite Books https://corditebooks.org.au/
Upswell Books https://upswellpublishing.com/
Giramondo https://giramondopublishing.com/
UQP https://www.uqp.com.au/
Recent Work Press https://recentworkpress.com/
Pitt Street Press https://pittstreetpoetry.com/
Wakefield Press https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/
Spinifex Press https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/
Slow Loris chapbooks, imprint, Puncher & Wattmann https://puncherandwattmann.com/
Rabbit Books https://rabbitpoetry.com/
Vagabond Books https://vagabondpress.net/
PLEASE NOTE THAT AUSTRALIAN POETRY STAFF WILL CORRESPOND REGARDING ALL PRIZES AND THE TWO-FOR-ONE OFFER AFTER WE RETURN 13 JANUARY 2025. WE ARE DEEPLY GRATEFUL TO YOU ALL. LOVE, AP.