Queensland Poetry Festival is one of Australia's premier organisations for all things poetry and spoken word. It exists to support and promote a poetry culture in Queensland and Australia, embracing the wide possibility of poetic expression in all of its forms. As well as hosting an annual 3–4-day festival over the last weekend of August in the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts and surrounds, QPF also produces a number of signature projects and programs throughout the year.
History
QPF was originally founded by Brett Dionysius in 1997, an organisational role he continued in until 2001 when it was being run as the Subverse: Queensland Poetry Festival. Queensland Poetry Festival then continued under a number of Directors and Managers including Rosanna Licari and Graham Nunn whilst becoming the incorporated entity Queensland Poetry Festival Inc in 2007. Since this new inception QPF has been directed by Julie Beveridge, Sarah Gory, and current Co-Directors Anne-Marie Te Whiu and David Stavanger. In 2016 an event was held at Government House, Brisbane as a Celebration of the Queensland Poetry Festival's 20th Anniversary. In a speech delivered by His Excellencythe HonourablePaul de Jersey AC as Administrator of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, he said:
Not only poetry, but also poets, have enjoyed special status. They have been credited with exceptional insight into our existence, coupled with great expressive powers... for twenty years, the Queensland Poetry Festival has been a wonderful champion of the enormous cultural wealth that resides in poetry, particularly our own, and of poetry’s capacity to enrich our Queensland communities and our State’s culture.
QPF's 2017 Arts Queensland Poet in Residence, award-winning Mvskoke/USA poet and musician Joy Harjo said:
I have travelled to festivals, performances and residencies all over the world, from the U.S., to Europe, to India, to South America. The Queensland Poetry Festival residency remains one of the most memorable. I was warmly welcomed and taken care of from even before I arrived, then throughout the residency. Every detail was covered. I encountered a generosity of spirit in the sponsors and participants of each workshop, performance, and of course, the community. It was apparent that the Queensland Poetry Festival had made a beloved place in the community, through the efforts of its leadership and staff. They have a committed fan, in me.
The 2016 festival saw the emergence of a strong commitment to including more diverse and Indigenous voices including the creation of the Indigenous Poet in Residence & the inaugural Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize, which are both ongoing QPF programs. QPF administers and manages a year-long program of poetry workshops, programs, events, and competitions. These include: three Arts Queensland Poetry Awards in the Val Vallis Poetry Award, Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and the XYZ Prize for Innovation in Spoken Word, the Arts Queensland Poet in Residence program, the Indigenous Poet in Residence, SlammED! and the Australian Poetry Slam QLD Heats & Final. QPF also partners on programs such as the monthly COUPLET event at Brisbane Square Library and the bi-annual Riverbend Poetry Series which has been held since 2006.
Organisational structure
The current structure of QPF includes a Management Committee and QPF Co-Directors, as well as volunteer Programming Advisors and many other volunteers as part of the festival main. In 2016 QPF was successful for the first time in applying for Organisational Funding for Operational/Staff costs for the 2017–2020 period via Arts Queensland. Since 2007 QPF has been an incorporated community organisation with a dedicated and growing audience, with a strong tradition of volunteerism and known increasingly for celebrating poetry in all of its forms. QPF currently have office space under a tenancy agreement with the Queensland Writers Centre, in the State Library of Queensland.
