Wild Words

30/08/2026

Thanks to everyone who turned up today. It was a beautiful love fest of rubbish. Big Ups to first timer Maxie! But thanks to our regular readers: Mark, Kate, Zach, Samantha, Alex, Juliet. Words were Heard :)

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29/08/2026

Remember: "Modern Life is Rubbish". See you all tomorrow.

08/08/2026

https://events.humanitix.com/poetry-month-x-darwin-jazz-poetry

A cabaret of music, spoken word and visual artistry that crackles with live, improvised energy, exploring the theme: The World Beneath.

01/08/2026

Let's get a poll going on the greatest poets of the 20th Century (yes, I have limited it to 20th Century). Name your top 10 poets of the 20th century in list form.

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26/07/2026

Thanks to everyone who turned out today for another installment of Wild Words. We had a good crowd of enthusiastic readers and a couple of first timers. So thanks to Fred (always a pleasure), Kate, Juliet, Emily, Samantha, Mark and Maree and to our first timers Dael and Dom. Keep your eyes posted to this page for next month's theme.

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23/07/2026

Just a reminder that Wild Words is on this Sunday, July 26th. As for the theme? Think on this. I am annoyed by a phrase, and here it is: "A picture is worth a thousand words." I think this statement is an affront to all writers. So let's take it on! As writers, we can tell stories, but we can also use words to paint pictures. So, let's bring our Wild Words to the realm of pure imagery and prove it takes way less than a thousand words to conjure an image! Which means the theme for this month is: "Paint me a picture with words".

18/07/2026

Congratulations to Top End Wordsmiths. They put on a great show, performing at their peak to bring to a live theatre audience all the colour, life and literature of Darwin creatives. The combination of words, sound/music, light and images was nothing short of inspired. Each reader/performer was at the top of their game, holding the audience in the palm of their hand. It was truly masterful. I was humbled to be a part of it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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13/07/2026

For those of you who want to hear a fine selection of Darwin writers read their material, both prose and poetry, then check out Top End Wordsmiths, Brown's Mart Theatre, this Saturday, July 18, 2-3pm:

Following our successful appearance in the Fringe last year, out Top End Wordsmiths continue to develop new, divergent, and unique views of the world around us. Our development continues through…

10/07/2026

Here's the link from the post below:

Best of Australian Poems 2026 Publisher: Australian Poetry / Imprint, Puncher & Wattmann Call-out: opens 23 June 2026. Closes: 14 July 2026, 11:59PM (AEST). Best of Australian Poems is an annual anthology collecting previously published and unpublished poems to create a poetic snapshot and barometer...

09/07/2026

Announcing Best of Australian Poems 2026

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN

Best of Australian Poems is an annual anthology collecting previously published and unpublished poems to create a poetic snapshot and barometer of the year that was. Capturing the richness and diversity of Australian poetry across a timeframe of 1 July 2025–30 June 2026, the series (now in its sixth year) explores how poetic responses to the contemporary moment develop with each passing year. The Best of Australian Poems (BoAP) series is published by Australia’s national poetry organisation, Australian Poetry, with new guest editors each year.

This year’s Guest Editor is Michael Farrell; highly respected poet, author, editor and scholar, within Australia and internationally. AP is thrilled to be working Michael on this volume.



Publisher: Australian Poetry / Imprint, Puncher & Wattmann

Call-out: close date 14 July 2026, 11:59PM (AEST).

Michael Farrell is a q***r poet from Bombala, NSW, now living in Melbourne. Previous poetry books include: Googlecholia (longlisted for the ALS gold medal), Family Trees, I Love Poetry (winner of the Judith Calanthe Prize), Cocky's Joy (shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Awards), open sesame (shortlisted for the NSW Premier's award), a raiders guide, and ode ode (shortlisted for the Age poetry book of the year), A Lyrebird (U.S. selected poems), several chapbooks, as well as The Victoria Principle (stories), Writing Australian Unsettlement (literary history), and Ashbery Mode (as editor). Michael edits The Chalamet Review, and is also poetry editor of Westerly.

Submission Guidelines

Poems submitted for this anthology may be previously published or unpublished, but must have been written and/or first published or performed (performance being a form of publication) between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. BoAP 2026 has a publication date of 1 November. You do not need to be an AP subscriber to submit to BoAP.

For call-out information and submission guidelines, head here.

For submission and technical enquiries, please contact Editorial Associate Jennifer at [email protected]

For editorial enquiries contact Publisher Melinda at [email protected]
CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT

You can renew your subscription or donate to AP here.

Or become a life member of Australian Poetry for $1000 and not only will you support a great cause, your subscription will never expire!

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