The Tasmanian Poetry Festival was founded in 1985 by poet and activist Tim Thorne. Thorne’s contribution to poetry in Tasmania and beyond is remembered each year by the awarding of the Tim Thorne Poetry Prize, which this year was won by Pam Schindler with Kim Nielsen-Creeley highly commended. The awards will be presented on Friday night, 10 October at 7pm. More details here.

The 2025 festival will run from the 10 to the 12th of October. Featured poets at the festival include Erin Coull, Kim Nielsen-Creeley, Kit Kelen, Alex McKeown, Les Wicks and Liz Winfield. Full details of the festival program and activities can be found at https://www.taspoetryfest.org/ category/2025/.

Walleah Press have compiled a brief background on previous festivals which is well worth a read https://walleahpress.com.au/ TasmanianPoetryFestival.html

The Tasmanian Poetry Festival is one of a handful of festivals across Australia purely dedicated to poetry (others that spring to mind are the Perth Poetry Festival, The Sonic Poetry Festival and the Red Dirt Poetry Festival). These grassroots festivals are a critical part of our literary culture and deserve our ongoing support.

---

.

.