WAPoets is pleased to present the 18th annual Perth Poetry Festival with a host of free and low-cost events to inspire and encourage you to develop your poetry.
These events take place on Whadjuk Noongar land. WAPoets acknowledges the traditional custodians of this land and extend our respects to Elders past, present and future.
For details of the Festival Workshops click here
For Biographies of the featured guest poets click here
To download a pdf of the draft program, click on the link below:
To be part of the audience, book your tickets at:
Gala Launch https://www.trybooking.com/CAEKW
Finale: Poetry Imagery https://www.trybooking.com/CAELH
All other events https://www.trybooking.com/CAELO
NOTE: Early Bird discounts are available for seats until 15 July
For the latest updates, visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wapoets
Events (+Free events, *Limited open mic)
Friday 30 September
Gala Launch
Saturday 1st October
Perth Poetry Club *
Book Launches +
Multicultural Poetry *
Sunday 2nd October
WAPoets Presents+
Knowing Perth Canyon+
In this Body are Gardens:Women’s Poetry *
Monday 3–6 October
Poetry Micro-Residencies +
Wednesday 5th October
Claire Potter Book Launch+
Thursdayday 6th October
Scott-Patrick Mitchell Book Launch+
Friday 7th October
Wellness Poetry +*
OUTspoken; Queer Poetry *
Saturday 8th October
Young Poets *
Resident Poets Speak+*
Imagery thru’ the Ages
Sunday 9th October
Voicebox *
Venues
Most events at Centre for Stories, 100 Aberdeen St. Perth, unless stated otherwise.
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Friday 30 September
Gala Launch
7–9.30pm
Rooftop, Art Gallery of WA
$30 regular/$25 WAPoets/Concession
Cash Bar available
Featuring the Key Note speech by Festival Patron, Rose van Son, and poetry readings by Festival Featured Poets; Freya Daly Sadgrove (NZ), Peter Boyle (NSW), Tamryn Bennett (NSW), Amy Lin, Barbara Temperton, Maree Dawes, Scott-Patrick Mitchell and Colin Young.
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Saturday 1st October
Perth Poetry Club
2–4pm
Moon Cafe
Food and drink available for purchase
Entry by donation
To participate via Zoom click on the link just prior to the commencement of this event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84254037443
A smattering of poetry from all of the Festival Featured Poets; Freya Daly Sadgrove (NZ), Peter Boyle (NSW), Tamryn Bennett (NSW), Amy Lin, Barbara Temperton, Maree Dawes, Scott-Patrick Mitchell and Colin Young.
This is a combined WAPoets/Perth Poetry Club event and includes limited open mic.
Book Launches
4–5.30pm
Moon Cafe
Free pizza, drinks available for purchase
This is a free event
To participate via Zoom click on the link just prior to the commencement of this event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84254037443
The launch of Ghost Nets: an Elegy by Barbara Temperton and Living on Granite by Maree Dawes.
Multicultural Poetry
7–9.30pm
Centre for Stories
$20 Regular/$15 WAPoets/Concession.
Cash Bar available
Poetry is a vessel that holds the essence of culture. It invites the listeners in as it quietly opens doors, fluffs up the cushions, and makes one welcome.
Our multicultural poetry night promises to lead us into many different and diverse cultural alcoves that speak to us from a point of experience and perspective, pain and happiness. It offers us a picture of the Australian identity that is still being shaped by our voices.
Featured poets include: TBA
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Sunday 2nd October
WAPoets Presents
3.30–5.30pm
Centre for Stories
This is a free event
Due to space restrictions, we ask that attendees register for this event at https://www.trybooking.com/CASAT
To participate in this event via Zoom click on the link: https://www.trybooking.com/CAEQL
Cash Bar available
CREATRIX AWARDS: the winners of the 2022 Creatrix Poetry and Haiku Awards are announced with readings form the successful poets.
POETRY D’AMOUR AWARD AND ANTHOLOGY LAUNCH: The winners of the 2022 Poetry d’Amour Poetry Contest announced with readings by the successful poets plus the launch of the Poetry d’Amour 2022 Anthology.
ROS SPENCER AWARDS: the winners of the 2022 Ros Spencer Poetry Contest announced with readings by the successful poets.
Knowing Perth Canyon: A Red Room Fellowship Showcase
5.30–6.30pm
Centre for Stories
This is a free event
Due to space restrictions, we ask that attendees register for this event at https://www.trybooking.com/CASAT
To participate in this event via Zoom click on the link: https://www.trybooking.com/CAEQR
Over the past few months, Scott-Patrick Mitchell (SPM) has been walking Perth beaches as a way of knowing Perth Canyon, a vast submerged natural structure just off WA’s coast. This project is part of SPM’s Red Room Poetry Fellowship. Join them as they share poems and insights from this project. Includes appearances from a number of WA poets who have been commissioned to write their own responses to Perth Canyon and WA beach culture.
In this Body are Gardens
7–9.30pm
Centre for Stories
$20 Regular/$15 WAPoets/Concession.
Cash Bar available
“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?
The world would break open” says poet Muriel Rukeyser
This reading places women’s voices at the centre, as women step up to the mic. This event will feature invited guests and some open mic spots for those who identify as women. All are welcome as audience members. Featured poets TBA.
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Monday–Thursday, 3–6 October
Poetry Micro-Residencies
10am–2pm
WAPoets Office
Visit the WAPoets office and discuss, share and explore poetry with the resident poet:
Monday 3 Oct: TBA
Tuesday 4 Oct: TBA
Wednesday 5 Oct: TBA
Thursday 6 Oct: Collaboration with all Resident Poets
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Wednesday 5th October
Book Launch—Claire Potter “Acanthus”
6pm – 8pm
Lawrence Wilson Gallery
University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway. Crawley
This is a free event
Join Claire Potter for the launch of her latest book of poetry Acanthus.
Acanthus offers poems that dwell in the landscapes of edges, of northern and southern hemispheres, of myth and fantasy – voyage and desire – as they oscillate between observation and finding one’s home. At the heart of Potter’s poetry is a keen awareness of the power of transformation, which draws the celestial and the physical closer to hand.
More information about Acanthus can be found at: https://giramondopublishing.com/books/claire-potter-acanthus/
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Thursday 6th October
Book Launch—Scott-Patrick Mitchell’s “Clean“
Thursday October 6
6 – 7.30pm
Rabble Books & Games
2/46 Eighth Avenue, Maylands
This is a free event.
Upswell Publishing and Rabble Books proudly invite you to the long-awaited launch of Clean by Scott-Patrick Mitchell. Clean will be launched by John Kinsella. Speeches begin at 6.15pm, so please arrive early.
Light snacks and drinks provided plus cakes by Curlycue Cakes.
Please RSVP by email to:
books (at) upswellpublishing (dot) com
by Thursday September 29 for your official invite.
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Friday 7th October
Wellness Poetry
11am for a 11.30 start. 1pm finish
Holyrood Pavilion
This is a free event
Lunch, tea and coffee are free; soft drinks are $1.50
Join host Leonard James and the Lorikeet team at the Holyrood Pavilion for a free event in a welcoming and non-judgemental space. Persons with a mental illness are invited to share a poem they have written or a famous historical poem that is special to them. There is no theme for content, but trigger warnings are strongly advised as there will be persons with PTSD in attendance. Register on the day. Includes featured poetry readings from:
All are welcome to sit with us, listen and join in the conversations afterwards.
OUTspoken; Queer Poetry
7–9.30pm
Centre for Stories
$20 Regular/$15 WAPoets/Concession.
Cash Bar available
Join us for an evening of LGBTIQA+ poetry as we celebrate the diversity of queer verse here in Perth … and beyond. Featured poets include: TBA
As always, OUTspoken is a fundraising event. This year we will be raising funds for; TBA
OUTspoken is an LGBTIQA+ inclusive safe space.
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Saturday 8th October
Young Poets
2–4pm
Moon Cafe
Food and drink available for purchase
Entry by donation
To participate via Zoom click on the link just prior to the commencement of this event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84254037443
These young poets (TBA) are the voices of future poetry. They bring to our poetry readings a zest and enthusiasm that is important in keeping poetry fresh. Through their words and their reading, the poetry community will be invigorated. All of these poets are currently still studying at school. They have busy lives and plenty of pressure to achieve excellent academic results before they go on to other pursuits or further study. Nonetheless, all of them have found time to create, to explore the play of words within poetic form and to offer comment on their world. Although they may be young poets venturing for the first time into live performance of their work, what they have to say is well worth listening to.
This is a combined WAPoets/Perth Poetry Club event and includes limited open mic.
Resident Poets Speak
4–5.30pm
Moon Cafe
Free pizza, drinks available for purchase
This is a free event
To participate via Zoom click on the link just prior to the commencement of this event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84254037443
Poetry readings from the participants in the 2022 Poetry Micro–Residencies program: TBA
Imagery thru’ the Ages
7–9.30
Planet Royale
$30 regular/$25 WAPoets/Concession.
Cash Bar available
It happens every now and then to most people, I think, when they are reading literary criticism, to be puzzled by the words ‘image’ and ‘imagery’. P N Furbank
WAPoets encourages audience members to ‘get into the vibe’ of this event and dress up as your favourite renaissance character (or any other period). Prizes for best dressed.
Every contemporary writer and discerning contemporary readers know that imagery is a crucial element of literary work; this is especially true in poetry, where language is at its most concentrated. Modern and contemporary poetry has often held to a speaking through images and an aesthetic whereby “a poem should not mean / But be” (Archibald MacLeish). However, this has not always been the case, and imagery has performed different roles in English language poetry since its origins in Mediaeval writing. The talk is aimed at a greater understanding of the workings of images in English language poetry, the way it has changed over time, and the possibilities for the present.
In this illustrated talk-cum reading we will discuss and illustrate the usage of imagery in the three major shifts in English language poetics, in the Renaissance, the Romantic period, and in Modernism. Each of the shifts in poetics was a response to prevailing social and philosophical outlooks, not just a matter of aesthetics. Poets whose works will be read include Thomas Wyatt, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Coleridge, T E Hulme and T S Eliot. The zeitgeist will be illustrated by paintings from Hans Holbein, Claude Lorrain, Caspar David Friedrich, Monet, Picasso and others.
Readings by: TBA
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Sunday 9th October
Voicebox
3.00–5.00pm
Mardoo Room, Fremantle Library
$5 at the door
Voicebox is a diverse and open community of poets with a range of views. Each meeting showcases one or two featured poets with limited open microphone opportunities. Come and be heard or just listen.
For details on how participate in this event click on the link: https://www.facebook.com/VoiceboxFremantle1/
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Venues:
AGWA Rooftop, Art Gallery of WA. Northbridge
Centre for Stories 100 Aberdeen St, Northbridge
Holyrood Pavillion Holyrood St, West Leederville
Moon Café 323 William St, Northbridge
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery UWA, 35 Stirling Hwy. Crawley
Mardoo Room Fremantle Library. 151 High St. Fremantle
Planet Royale 12 Lake St, Northbridge
WAPI Office Level 2, Rm 33 Bon Marche Arcade. 80 Barrack St. Perth
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The 2022 Perth Poetry Festival receives funds from Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australia Cultural Fund and is supported by;
