We invite all Australian Poetry subscribers to submit to the Australian Poetry Anthology, Volume 8 2020.

Submissions to the Anthology opened on Monday, 24 February, and close 11.59 pm, 15 March 2020.

The Anthology will be published in May/June, with ACCEPTANCES only to be sent in April.

Guidelines and how to submit

  • You must be a current Australian Poetry subscriber to submit and to be published.
  • Poems can be previously published.
  • Please send, in one email, up to three poems.
  • Only three poems will be considered so please do not submit more.
  • Only one poem per poet can be selected, but this does not exclude the selection of a cycle of poems.
  • Each poem must be sent as a word document as well as a PDF. The PDF is used for proofing purposes.
  • Please note that submissions sent outside of our submission dates will not be read or considered.
  • Please also send a bio of up to 50 words and your contact (phone, postal address, email) details.
  • The submission email is: apjsubmissions@gmail.com
  • Please note that 2020 payment for a selected poem is a one-year digital subscription to Australian Poetry, with all subscriber benefits included.
  • We are committed to prompt turnaround on the reading of poems.
  • All poets who are accepted within the guideline submission dates will be contacted in April with acceptance notices. As with the Journal, we will not be sending rejection notices, due to the high volume of submissions received.

It’s that exciting time of year again as we announce our next, incredible Anthology co-editor team of Melinda Smith and Sara Saleh, and its call-out!

In 2020, for the first time, the Anthology has an ACT focus, in the same way that last year’s had a NT focus, and the prior year’s a SA focus. There will still be a full national selection, however. An ACT launch will be also be held with details to be released for the June event.

Stay tuned!

Sara Saleh

Sara Saleh is an award-winning Arab-Australian writer, poet, and human rights activist living and learning on Gadigal Land (Sydney). A longtime campaigner for refugee rights and racial justice, Sara has spent the last decade working with international organisations in Australia and the Middle East.

Sara’s first poetry collection was released in August 2016. Her poems have been published in English and Arabic in SBS Life, Australian Poetry Journal, Meanjin, Cordite Poetry Review, Bankstown Poetry Collections and global anthologies A Blade of Grass, Making Mirrors, and Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand spoken word anthology. She regularly speaks and performs nationally and internationally, and her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Fairfax, SBS, and Junkee.

Sara is co-editor of the recently released anthology, Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity (Picador 2019), and is developing her debut novel as a recipient of the Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Writers. She is a proud Bankstown Poetry Slam ‘Slambassador’.​

Image credit: Emily Hart.

Melinda Smith

Melinda Smith is an Australian poet, editor, teacher, arts advocate and event curator based in Canberra, Australia. She is the author of seven poetry collections. Her work appears nationally and internationally in literary journals and has been widely anthologised and translated. She has been awarded a number of prizes and grants for her work, including a Bundanon Trust residency, multiple ArtsACT grants, a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Grant and the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award. She frequently collaborates with artists in other disciplines including dancers, musicians and visual artists, and has appeared at literary and arts events all over Australia and in New Zealand, Italy and Japan. She is also a former poetry editor of The Canberra Times