Australian
Poetry Journal

News/Events / 11 Jul, 2016

Australian Poetry News Update

Thanks again to all for supporting the important work of AP as the sole national representative body for poetry in this country. We are thrilled at the new program that's been rolling out in 2016 - a big shout-out to all those who have attended events, including our festival programs, participated in other activities, or promoted them! As we adapt to the arts cuts under the last Australia Council round, we encourage donations which can be made on the website or for new or renewing subscribers to sign up again. Remember that your donations are fully tax deductible, over $2. Annual subscriptions range from $30 (U/30s only) to $80 and support core projects. Donations, large or small, can support our publications and national Australian Poets Festival events - $100 pays for a new poem or online review or festival reading, $200 for a print/online short review or festival panel participant. It all adds up to more poetry across the nation. Please share the word via http://www.australianpoetry.org/support/

Some brilliant highlights to report:
- Subscriptions are at a record high for the third month running
- Australian Poetry Journal 6.1 released 30 June - digital versions were sent via PDF to subscribers for the first time. The print version is now being mailed out.
- The Australian Poets Festival appears in 7 major capital city literary festivals this year, presenting more than 100 poets in five states/territories
- The early June ACT Masterclass run by Jen Webb was an outstanding success. Participants will be reading at Poetry on the Move in September
- Our first Young Poets Toolkits Webinar course had a fantastic response with eight promising poets across Australia selected. It kicks off in the second week of July.

We thank all our partners on these programs including the national young writers' organisation Express Media, ACT Writers Centre, and the directors of all the APF festival events - Perth Writers Festival, Blak & Bright Indigenous Literary Festival, NT WordStorm, Sydney Writers Festival, Emerging Writers' Festival - and upcoming - Melbourne Writers Festival and Queensland Poetry Festival. Thanks to festival funding from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

The MWF program (26 Aug-4 Sept) launches 20 July - http://mwf.com.au

The QPF program (25-28 Aug) launches 12 July - http://queenslandpoetryfestival.com