Poetry in the National Consciousness
Bringing poetry to the people, and people to poetry
At Red Room Poetry, we believe that poetry is a powerful force for connection, reflection, and cultural change. And in recent years, poetry has been steadily reclaiming space in the national conversation.
Through flagship initiatives like Poetry Month, our Poetry and Youth Ambassadors, and our Line Break partnership with ABC Radio National, we’ve seen how poems in all forms can ignite public imagination, amplify underrepresented voices, and bring language back to the heart of everyday life.
Poetry Month: Making Poetry for the Public
Every August, Poetry Month brings poetry into stages, screens, airwaves and inboxes with live and online events across the country. Designed to broaden access and spark new encounters with poetry, the month-long celebration invites everyone to engage with verse in unexpected and meaningful ways.
At the heart of the program is 30in30, our daily poetry commission and writing competition. Every day in August, a new poem is published alongside a prompt — with prizes, this year, generously supported by Dymocks Books for selected entries.
Live events take centre stage with performances like Shortwave at the Sydney Opera House, an electrifying celebration of new poetic voices. Through Middle of the Air, a partnership with ABC Radio National featuring acclaimed musicians, Leah Senior and DOBBY, we bridge the worlds of poetry and song in a national callout that invites poems to be reimagined as original songs.
We also dig deep into the provocations and possibilities of the form with Hatred of Poetry, a conversation hosted in partnership with The Wheeler Centre, challenging and celebrating the role of poetry in society, whether you love it or loathe it.
Beyond our own programming, the Poetry Month Calendar gathers and promotes community events held in August from across the country. Check out this year’s highlights to discover the vibrant poetry ecosystem thriving in libraries, bookshops, community centres, and online.
Poetry Ambassadors: Public Figures, Personal Poems
One of the quiet revolutions of Poetry Month has been the work of our Poetry Ambassadors. Each year, we invite a group of well-known Australians — artists, activists, broadcasters, thinkers — to step into the poetic space. While they may not call themselves poets, they each contribute an original commissioned piece, amplifying the form across their wide-reaching platforms.
By inviting unexpected voices to write and share poetry, we challenge old ideas of who poetry is for, and who it's written by. Instead, we position poetry as a practice of insight, empathy, and public thought. Because poems, as intimate as they might be, should be accessible to all.
Even if one’s reluctant to call themselves a poet, we believe everyone has a poem or two stashed in the bottom drawer. Our Poetry Ambassadors are the greatest testament to that. Through their wide-ranging thought, themes and poetic styles, over the years, Ambassadors have inspired many budding and secret poets to read and write poems of their own!
Youth Ambassadors: The Future in Verse
Every movement needs fresh voices. That’s why we’re proud to launch our inaugural Youth Ambassadors initiative in 2025.
For the first time ever, we’re bringing together four extraordinary young poets — Rataj Abdullah, Charlee Brooks, Maggie Knight-Williams and Zafty — who are already shaping the future of poetry through spoken word, digital platforms, rap, and performance. As Youth Ambassadors, they’ll take part in showcase performances, contribute to our 30in30 poetry commissions, and consult on the potential future of a Youth Poet Laureate program for Australia.
In a moment when young people are demanding more from public discourse, we’re proud to champion their creativity, inventiveness, and power.
Line Break: Poetry on National Airwaves
Each week during Poetry Month, Red Room partners with ABC Radio National for Line Break, a powerful series bringing commissioned poems to a national audience. Every Wednesday at lunchtime, a poet reads their work on air, sharing new writing with thousands of listeners across the country.
These broadcasts offer an intimate moment of pause, a space for language, emotion, and reflection in the middle of everyday life. By placing poetry within a national broadcast context, Line Break helps embed the form into Australia’s cultural conversation, reaching people far beyond traditional poetry spaces.
Many Ways to Engage (And Lots More to Come)
Whether it’s through public commissions, digital campaigns, or our Fellowship program in partnership with Varuna, The National Writers’ House, Red Room is working to ensure that poetry doesn’t sit on the margins of culture, but instead, that it thrives at its very centre.
If poetry belongs in the national consciousness it is as much yours as it is anyone else’s, so we invite you to make yourself comfortable and enjoy the stanzas as they come. We encourage you to start here.
