Les Wicks gathered an international crowd to build the poetry anthology ‘Class’, published in Australia in 2024 by Meuse Press. The book grew directly out of debates held in Canada and India across 2023 and 2024. It tackles the reality of economic divides during an era when the gap between rich and everyone became extreme.
Instead of pushing a single political line, this collection serves up a mixture of human friction. Dozens of writers contribute, including Jeltje Fanoy, PiO, Vaughan Rapatahana, Marra PL. Lanot, and Gabriel Rosenstock. These poems break through social walls, exposing human vulnerability and the stubborn fight for common ground.
Over time, grief and loss change shape. So much of what remains lives in gesture, language, and the things we learned without ever formally being taught them. I know there are those of you out there who have lost the most important people in your lives, and I often find myself thinking about this great mystery. What is this life if it were not for them? To have learned, to have watched closely, to have listened, and now, without being told, to know where to place our hands. I think I can make some guesses about life and its meaning, but I cannot make sense of death, or what life there may be after it. I believe in the mystery of it all, and can only really rely on memory, however inaccurate memory itself may sometimes be. Perhaps memory is the afterlife. I wrote this poem about my father, and I was fortunate enough to have it included in the Montreal Poetry Prize anthology in 2020.
Alex Skovron’s new book, Switchpoints, is a collection of 100 narratives in prose and verse. It was published in March 2026. A link to the publishers, Puncher & Wattmann, can be found at the foot of this page.
A philosopher sets about compiling an encyclopaedia of embraces; an artist accuses her mirror of a lifetime of dishonesty; a flâneur collects melodies from the faces of passing strangers; an author envisions the ultimate map charting every single move of his existence; a girl dreams of a magic box that would tell her everything …
Switchpoints, Alex Skovron’s twelfth book, is a collection of 100 short narrative pieces, some in prose, others in verse. It is inhabited by a broad assortment of individuals of all ages, from children to the elderly, visited at particular and possibly significant moments in their daily life—moments of doubt or discovery, inertia or inspiration, of personal reflection, reminiscence or philosophical musing. There are skewed apprehensions and tender recognitions, lingering regrets and poignant realizations—‘switchpoint’ moments that trigger a jolt in thought or demeanour, or signal a shift in viewpoint or sense of self; or may not. The prod might be a line from a novel or poem, a painting or a piece of music, a landmark, a famous disaster, or perhaps no more than a sudden idea, a fading dream or an elusive recollection. Underpinning it all is a fascination with the workings of mind, the riddles of memory, the mystique of time.
Poetry Sydney is an independent literary organisation committed to a presence for poetry in our culture.
The Australian Poetry Publishers directory is a portal for poets to have their poems published, to encourage Australian poetry to be purchased and to support Australian Poetry Publishers in enabling poets to have the opportunity to be published. Publishers on this list are those who publish poetry within Australia.
The past year has celebrated established mastery and urgent new voices, with David Brooks claiming the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. The sector also saw the release of the Best of Australian Poems 2025 anthology and a vibrant Poetry Month program fostering community engagement.
The 2025 awards season saw Julie Fragar and Jude Rae recognised for their exceptional portraiture and landscape work respectively. Major institutions also celebrated historical figures, with the National Gallery of Australia launching comprehensive retrospectives of modernist painters Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar.
The visual arts landscape was defined by the opening of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial and significant prize announcements. First Nations sovereignty and connection to Country were central themes, while contemporary artists like Gene A’Hern and Jonathan Jones received acclaim for their site-specific and abstract works.
Focus on Patrick White has been renewed through the prestigious literary award named in his honour, won this year by David Brooks. The playwrights’ award also recognised new talent, while fresh critical scholarship continues to examine White’s complex legacy and “dilemmas” in contemporary Australian culture.
Australian Book Review (ABR) Australia’s premier critical magazine, offering reviews, essays, commentaries, and new creative writing. Editor: Peter Rose https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/
Sydney Review of Books (SRB) A dedicated online literary journal focusing on long-form criticism and essays. Editor: James Ley https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/
The Monthly A national magazine covering politics, society, and the arts, featuring long-form journalism and reviews. Editor: Michael Williams https://www.themonthly.com.au/
Inside Story An independent news and current affairs site featuring strong arts and culture analysis. Editor: Peter Clarke https://insidestory.org.au/
Island Magazine A premium literary magazine from Tasmania that publishes high-quality fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Editorial Manager: Jane Rawson https://islandmag.com/
Mascara Literary Review A bi-annual journal focusing on contemporary writing by First Nations, culturally diverse, and neurodivergent artists. Artistic Director: Michelle Cahill https://www.mascarareview.com/
Rochford Street Review An independent online journal reviewing Australian literature, poetry, and small-press publications. Editors: Mark Roberts and Linda Adair https://rochfordstreetreview.com/
Peril Magazine An Asian-Australian arts and culture magazine publishing poetry, prose, and visual arts with a focus on diverse perspectives. Chairperson: Lian Low https://peril.com.au/
Academic & University-Affiliated Journals
Griffith Review Operating out of Griffith University, this quarterly features public intellectual essays, reportage, and creative writing. Editor: Carina Garland https://www.griffithreview.com/
Westerly Magazine Based at the University of Western Australia, this journal publishes fiction, poetry, and essays with a focus on WA and Asia. General Editor: Daniel Juckes https://westerlymag.com.au/
Southerly One of Australia’s oldest literary journals, published by the English Association (Sydney). Editor: Elizabeth McMahon https://southerlyjournal.com.au/
Axon: Creative Explorations Published by the University of Canberra, this open-access journal focuses on poetry and creative practice-led research. Editors: Jen Webb and Paul Hetherington https://axonjournal.com.au/
TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses The journal of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP), publishing scholarly articles on creative writing. Managing Editors: Julienne van Loon and Ross Watkins https://textjournal.scholasticahq.com/
Visual Arts News & Criticism
Art Monthly Australasia The region’s flagship visual arts publication, providing critical discourse and exhibition reviews. Editor: Michael Fitzgerald https://www.artmonthly.org.au/
Art Almanac A monthly guide to galleries, news, and awards, serving as the essential “gallery guide” for the industry. Editor: Melissa Pesa https://www.art-almanac.com.au/
ArtsHub The primary trade publication for the Australian arts industry, covering news, jobs, and policy. Content Director: George Dunford https://www.artshub.com.au/
Artist Profile Focuses on the artists themselves, featuring in-depth studio interviews and photographic profiles. Editor: Kon Gouriotis https://artistprofile.com.au/
Memo Review Australia’s only weekly online review dedicated strictly to visual art exhibitions (primarily Melbourne/Sydney). Editorial Team: Rotating academic and critic collective https://memoreview.net/
Runway Journal An open-access digital platform for experimental art and criticism, managed by a rotating board of artists. Co-Chairs (2025): Ena Grozdanic and Athanasios Lazarou https://runway.org.au/
un Projects (un Magazine) An independent platform for contemporary art criticism, focusing on local dialogue and artist-led discourse. Editor: Rotating guest editors per issue https://unprojects.org.au/
Poetry specific
Cordite Poetry Review A comprehensive online journal for Australian and international poetry and criticism. Editor: Kent MacCarter http://cordite.org.au/
Australian Poetry Journal The flagship publication of the national poetry body, publishing contemporary poems and critical essays. Editor: Jacinta Le Plastrier (Publisher) https://www.australianpoetry.org/
Performing Arts (Theatre, Music, Opera)
Limelight Australia’s leading independent magazine for classical music, opera, and the performing arts. Editor: Jo Litson https://limelightmagazine.com.au/
Australian Stage Provides reviews and news covering theatre, opera, dance, and musicals across major capital cities. Editor: Review team based https://www.australianstage.com.au/
Joyce Lee’s It is nearly dark when I come to the Indian Ocean, her collected works 1965–2003, was published by Stephen J. Williams in 2003. There is an introduction by Chris Wallace-Crabbe. Lee died in 2007. The complete book is also available on the National Library of Australia’s TROVE.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in creative fields, including literary analysis. Here is a review of Les Wicks’ Time Taken, a new and selected book of poems published in 2025. The review is written and presented in the form of a podcast by artificial intelligence hosts.
I intentionally left the review unedited; my only intervention was to customize the tone to be adopted by the fictional hosts and to require them to quote extensively from the actual poems.
This experiment is published with permission of Les Wicks. This AI review contains several significant errors. Quotations are sometimes wrong, interpretations sometimes wrong, and the dialogue is annoyingly repetitive; but what do we expect? It’s made by a computer algorithm.
The process yields a linguistic analysis of a text’s themes, based simply on the words and phrases used in it. I’ve included some of this analysis in the notes to the video.
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