Sydney poetry picnic

The annual event acknowledges the efforts undertaken throughout the year by the conveners of poetry in forging poetry communities and developing support of the art form in Sydney and New South Wales. Representatives are invited to attend, speak of their event and read. There is also an opportunity for poets to register to read, or perform in the open reading section.

Now in its seventh year, the reading will feature three-time winner of the Nimbin World Cup of Poetry, Tug Dumbly, as Emcee. ​

From the more established poetry events through to the emerging, performative and the competitive Sydney and NSW poetry that feature, local, regional, national and international poets and collaborators across a range of different venues, from libraries, galleries, museums to pubs and clubs will have an opportunity to inform us of their public programs in 2022.

The family event is free, dog friendly and located at the Rotunda at Observatory Hill.

Representative poets will be reading from some of the poetry events that feature in Sydney and NSW: Australian Poetry; Avant Gaga; Bankstown Poetry; Live Poets Society; North Shore Poetry Project; Poetry at the Petersham Bowlo; Poetry at the Rudolph Steiner House; Poetry Salon; Poetry Sydney; Poetry at the Sydney Mechanical School of Arts; Red Room Poetry; Sydney Poetry Lounge and Word Travels.

The event is subject to weather conditions. Notification of cancellation will be provided at 11.30am through the Facebook event page and members will receive notification by email.

Register for the Poetry Sydney email list.

Tug Dumbly bio: Tug Dumbly is the pen and stage name of Geoff Forrester. He is a poet, performer, satirist, singer, songwriter and photographer. He has setup and ran the seminal spoken word night, Bardflys in Sydney. He has released two spoken word CDs, Junk Culture and Idiom Savant, through ABC. He has been awarded first prize in spoken word competitions across Australia. In 2020 he had two poems shortlisted for the Newcastle Poetry Prize, for which he was also shortlisted in 2019. In 2020 he won the Borranga Poetry Prize, and was runner up in the WB Yeats Poetry Prize. In 2019 he was long listed (for the second time) for the Vice Chancellor’s Poetry Prize. In 2015 he came second in the Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize. His first poetry collection, Son Songs, came out through Flying Islands Books in 2018.

This event is supported by the Surry Hills Business Partnership and Eastside Radio as media partner.