Poets unite … for better and verse
The death of the Queensland Poetry Festival inspired local poets to host monthly readings at Brisbane’s Books@Stones, where you will hear some of Australia’s leading bards.
Stones Corner is a small, south-western, inner-city Brisbane suburb that is a hub of creative opportunity.
This is from its thriving thrift shops, pubs, busy restaurants, barber shops and gyms to its cool recycled couture and culture, including the fabulous independent bookstore Books@Stones, which hosts book clubs, author signings, launches and, since July 2024, a monthly poetry reading called poets@stones.
Poets@stones was created after the launch of the latest volume of the literary journal neither/nor, edited by long-serving local poets Rob Morris and Francis Boyle.
The poets who gathered that evening thought that a more regular and permanent poetry reading was required after the news broke that Queensland’s poetry flagship event – the Queensland Poetry Festival – had been defunded, drastically reducing its 2024 program.
Queensland is home to many diverse and brilliant contemporary poets – from award-winning wunderkinds such as Jarad Bruinstroop, Anthony Lawrence, Sarah Holland-Batt and Damen O’Brien to Brisbane legend Ross Clark, who was editing poetry magazines and organising events back in the 1980s.
Fittingly, Clark was invited to be the first poet to perform at poets@stones back in July 2024. But it’s not just Queensland poets reading. Last year Melbourne poet and academic Rose Lucas came up to sunny Queensland and this year Anne Elvey, founder of Plumwood Mountain literary journal (and also from Bunurong Country), will be reading in May.
The premise of poets@stones is to give poets who have a new collection (out, or about to come out) an opportunity to read, promote and sell their books.
Books@Stones owners Karen and Michael Weibler already do a fantastic job supporting Queensland and interstate writers through literary events at their store (and pop-up bookshops at festivals and events elsewhere).
A notable standout at Books@Stones is their fantastic contemporary poetry section. It’s a delight every month to enter their store and see the fine assortment of poets’ books on display by poets who are reading that night.
The 2025 poets@stones January event featured three emerging Queensland poets – Aoife Hilton, Jarrah L. Barton and Madeleine Dale, whose new collection, Portraits of Drowning, won the 2023 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and is published by UQP.
The recent February event saw visual artist, academic and lawyer Julie Manning perform, as well as the Calanthe Press poets Vanessa Page and Anthony Lawrence reading from their latest collections – Salt River: Poems from the Larapinta Trail and Time Machine.
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Other future featured guests include Jena Woodhouse, Michelle Taylor, Ron Heard, Rae White, Svetlana Sterlin, Shastra Deo, Peter Bakowski, Lesley Synge, Alison Thompson, Victoria Bladen, Kevin Smith and Liam Ferney … just to name a few.
This is a free event at poets@stones and it’s getting popular, so you might want to book, as seating is limited.
booksatstones.com.au/pages/6983-Events
B.R. Dionysius is a poet, editor and educator who lives and works in Meanjin. He was the founding director of the Queensland Poetry Festival and has published nine collections of poetry.