Queensland poets and poetry lovers gathered at the State Library to commemorate another year of local poetry from April 20 to 22.

The Queensland Poetry Festival celebrated emerging and established poets, with a range of awards and events to bring the whole writing community together. The launch of the festival included engaging readings by previous Queensland Poetry award winners and the announcement of the 2023 winners.

The Val Vallis Award went to Jarad Bruinstroop for Fragments on the Myth of Cy Twombly, the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize was awarded to Adam Brannigan for The Weather Spirit, and the Thomas Shapcott Prize went to the talented Madeleine Dale for her book The Water-Bearers.

Over the weekend, numerous panels and discussions gave insight into different areas of poetry, such as sharing stories of trauma or writing about real events. Several workshops also opened up the expertise of experienced poets to those wanting to develop their craft. Seasoned poets, Paul Hetherington and Cassandra Atherton, worked with participants on cross-media inspirations in their workshop Seeing Poems in Art – Writing Ekphrastic Poetry.

On the final day of the festival, Queensland Poetry presented their most ambitious performance poetry event to date. The Arts Queensland XYZ Prize for Excellence in Spoken Word is Australia’s only national arts award that recognises the growing field of spoken word. The finals event was a celebration of collaboration, including solo sets, collaborative poems, and performances developed with other artforms such as circus, dance, and music. The 2023 finalists were Boy Renaissance, Huda the Goddess, Sarah Temporal, and Scott-Patrick Mitchell and the event was hosted by Ruckus Brisbane. After a series of creative and boundary-pushing poetry performances, Scott-Patrick Mitchell took first prize for the 2023 XYZ Award.

While the Queensland Poetry Festival is only an annual event, Queensland Poetry run a variety of events and awards during the year. Visit https://www.qldpoetry.org/ to learn more.

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