Announcing the 2026 Red Room Poetry Fellows

Fellowship

In partnership with Varuna, The National Writers' House, and thanks to our generous program supporters Bret Walker AO SC, Tim Game SC and The Adès Family Foundation, the Red Room Poetry Fellowship supports six poets to deeply engage with and develop their practice.

This opportunity encourages poets to undertake an intensive period of creative development including a residency at Varuna or remotely, mentorship, as well as a poetic commission to be published as part of Poetry Month in August. All six poets will be in residence simultaneously, establishing a community of practice, and encouraging new poetic connections.

2026 Red Room Poetry Fellowship - Judges’ Statement

The Red Room Poetry Fellowship Judges acknowledge and pay respect to the Elders and Traditional Custodians of the lands across so-called Australia.

We have been honoured to read an extraordinary range of submissions reflecting the breadth and vitality of contemporary poetry across the continent. This year we noticed that many submissions engaged deeply with questions of lineage, cultural knowledge, inheritance and memory, with many moving between personal and collective histories and drawing on family archives, oral storytelling, and un/historical record. We noticed, too, keen interest in exploring Indigenous languages and modes of relationality and were particularly struck by the number of powerful applications from First Nations poets. We were impressed, too, with the strength of applications exploring neurodiverse and disabled experiences.

Successful submissions trace cultural survival through the body and motherhood as resistance; swirl with the heartbeat of resistance and resurrection; mobilise Indigenous philosophy as a reparative force to reclaim Anthropocene manhood; weave through dis-colonial times to write a love story of survival; ground themselves in somatic attention to explore embodiment, symbolic process and psychic maturation; and lay the realities of coercive control and love after loss under the full glare of the sun.

The Red Room Poetry Fellowship judges would like to warmly congratulate Dakota Feirer (Regional NSW), Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello (ACT), Kerry Greer (WA), Misbah Wolf (VIC), Rob Waters (Regional NSW) and Sela Ahosivi-Atiola (Anywhere Remote Fellow, Western Sydney) on being the recipients of the Red Room Poetry Fellowships, and to wish those involved a productive and enriching experience at Varuna, in that extraordinary landscape.

We would also like to acknowledge four Highly Commended applicants — Bronte Heron, Chloe Mayne, Kara Tuck, Sarah Temporal — whose applications we read with great admiration.

Submissions to the Red Room Residency continue to range wide and deep across geographies, forms and lived experiences. We were profoundly moved by the quality of applications received. It’s heartening to witness such a vibrant community of poets engaging with the page as a space for memory, cultural continuity, experimentation and care.

We extend our sincere thanks to Red Room Poetry for the opportunity to read and consider such thoughtful and compelling work, and we wish all of the recipients the very best as they undertake their Fellowships.

~ Alison J. Barton, David Brooks and Dženana Vucic, 2026 Red Room Fellowship Judges