a clavicle or collar bone, a circle of wrist the darkness penetrates.
We laugh carelessly, under a panoply with the stars, on parole,
~ Michelle Cahill from ‘Augury

Recognising the achievements and artistic goals of contemporary Australian poets

The Red Room Poetry Fellowship was established to foster poetic and professional development of an individual within the wider poetic community.

Valued at $10,000, this opportunity encourages poets to undertake an intensive period of creative development involving a range of commissions, residency, recordings and publication outcomes. Previous recipients of the Red Room Poetry Fellowship: Ali Cobby Eckermann (2017), the late Candy Royalle (2018) and Jeanine Leane (2019).

Created within the realms of an extraordinary year, we're proud to present 31 new poetic works by our 2020 Fellow Michelle Cahill and nine Shortlisted poets.

Fellow 2020

Featuring a suite of 10 poems, Michelle's Fellowship project is a poetic reflection and resistance to the impact of colonialism, species hierarchy and climate emergencies following the Australian bush fires and extending her work within Extinction Elegies.

Shortlist 2020

  • Gloria Demillo
  • Luke Fischer
  • Toby Fitch
  • Zenobia Frost
  • Jill Jones
  • Scott-Patrick Mitchell
  • Nicole Smede
  • Mark Tredinnick
  • Jessica L Wilkinson

Judges 

Our 2020 judges were Judith BeveridgeNatalie Harkin and Nicholas Jose.

While this Fellowship is currently only open to previously commissioned Red Room Poets, we're always looking for new voices for upcoming poetic projects. If you're interested in a Red Room Poetry commission, email contact@redroomcompany.org with a copy of your CV, a suite of your best poems, as well as the kind of projects in which you are interested.

Partners and Supporters

  • Australia Council for the Arts

  • Create NSW