The inaugural Australian poet laureate will be appointed in 2025 as part of the federal Labor government’s new National Cultural Policy, Revive.
The intention to create the official position was announced, with some fanfare, at the beginning of 2023. But there is still no clear indication of how a suitable candidate will be selected, what criteria will be used, and the precise nature of the role. We still do not know what, exactly, an Australian poet laureate will be expected to do, or to achieve.
When the position was announced, academic Valentina Gosetti called it a “an unmissable opportunity” and hoped it would “reflect the call for diversity” embodied in Revive. One can only welcome any public initiative that acknowledges the greater diversity of contemporary Australian poetry, where Indigenous, non-Anglo, queer and all-abilities people are now represented.
