Victoria

Heart pump the land where sky are in the bodies we carried.

Tears are reefs where the sea matter more

 

Lionel Fogarty, Murri poet, Indigenous political activist

 

Melbourne is the headquarters (geographically) for the country’s national poetry organisation, Australian Poetry Ltd (AP), which organises national projects such as the Australian Poets Festival, workshops and online mentoring programs. As one of the resident literary organisations at The Wheeler Centre, AP also runs Melbourne-based events, launches and programs. Our website offers an extensive listing of upcoming events across the poetry community, including courses, festivals, internships, calls for submissions and journals close to our heart. Here at our offices located at the Wheeler Centre, we have a large poetry library focused on past and present Australian poetry, available to access by appointment.

At a time when the poetry is thriving in Australia – with outstanding works being written and published – Melbourne remains a focus for the art: there are multiple major literary journals that publish poetry based in Melbourne, as well as poetry publishing houses that garner extensive readership, critical attention and prizes. These journals include: Australian Poetry Journal and the annual Australian Poetry Anthology; Australian Book Review; Cordite Poetry Review; Overland; Rabbit Poetry Journal; Meanjin; Going Down Swinging; The Lifted Brow; and digital organisations and publications such as work & tumble, The Suburban Review and Scum Mag.

There is also SOd press, who publish experiments in radical poetics. Really amazing work, check them out here.

A range of poetry prizes are offered by these journals, including ABR’s annual prestigious Peter Porter Poetry Prize and Overland’s annual Judith Wright Poetry Prize. The annual Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards also offers a valuable poetry prize, administered through the Wheeler Centre. Additionally, the poetry is also considered within the major triennial literary prize, the Melbourne Prize for Literature.

Melbourne poets write across a range of genres, including experimental, lyrical, digital, slam and performance. Melbourne Spoken Word is a great resource for regular poetry listings. Key resources for regular poetry events listings are run by poet and activist Benjamin Solah. 

Melbourne is home to Blak & Bright Indigenous Literary Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Digital Emerging Writers Festival, Emerging Writers Festival and Feminist Writers Festival.

Monthly event La Mama Poetica is held at La Mama Theatre, located on Faraday Street in Carlton, not far from the CBD.

Some other key links for poetry event info for the city are:

If you believe we’ve missed something important in your state or territory, feel free to let us know at communications@australianpoetry.org.