The theme for Perth Poetry Festival 2026 is

Ear to the Ground

It’s an invitation to tune in to what’s moving beneath the surface. The quiet signals, the urgent undercurrents, the stories we inherit, the ones we’re living through, and the ones we’re ready to say out loud. Echoes of the past, vibrations of the present, call from the future. You can interpret this theme in your own unique, poetic way.

You’re welcome to respond to the theme directly, or simply let it sit behind the work as a kind of pressure, texture, pulse, or questioning. It is not a prerequisite for your work being considered, but rather the signature this years festival will carry with it.

Anyone can submit an EOI: Western Australian, interstate and international applicants are welcome. We program across a mix of local, national and global voices.

Across page, stage and hybrid forms, including:

• readings and spoken word sets
• feature performances
• workshops and participatory sessions
• panels and conversations
• multimedia and cross-arts work
• installations, exhibitions, mapping and public-facing work

For a sense of the range we program, see the : Perth Poetry Festival 2024 and Perth Poetry Festival 2025 festival programs.

A satellite, lead-in or follow-on event is a longer, specially focused, or alternate-format proposal that sits outside the main festival weekend and runs across August–September.

These events are often the right home for work that won’t fit a standard main-weekend feature slot (typically 10–15 minutes, or up to 20 minutes for group features), or for formats that need different staging. This can include poetry-theatre or staged narrative performance, outdoor or site-based work, panels and conversations, cross-arts collaborations, partner-presented showcases (for organisations wanting to feature their poets or publications), events held beyond the central city precinct, and exhibitions.

We also run themed satellite events, which may include a high-energy Slam Showcase, a dedicated Queer Poetry night, and other focused events such as Women’s Poetry, Wellness Poetry, and a Regional Feature. Your EOI helps us place your work where it fits best, whether that’s the main weekend or a satellite format.

Yes. Submit one application and nominate a clear primary contact person. List all co-presenters and outline who is doing what.

For programming purposes, a group proposal should be a special presentation built around a clear theme or shared concept, with a cohesive arc and a sense of the work being made for the same room. If the content is disparate, loosely connected, or a simple mish-mash of separate individual sets, it may be assessed as individual proposals rather than a group act, or may be rejected.

If you are aiming to be included in the main festival weekend, group features should be planned as a 15-minute set and should not exceed 20 minutes.

Yes. If you’re proposing more than one format (for example, a performance set as well as a workshop, panel, or other presentation), please submit a separate EOI for each.

We review your EOIs together so we can see the full scope of what you’re offering and assess it in context. This is especially helpful for interstate applicants, as it allows us to consider a stronger overall contribution to the festival. The clearer and more detailed each proposal is, the easier it is for us to assess programming fit and feasibility.

We program a mix of formats and lengths.

• Main weekend performance slots are usually 10–15 minutes per set (up to 20 minutes for a cohesive group feature).
• Workshops can run up to 2 hours. As a guide, aim for a maximum of 2 hours for any workshop-style session.
• Panels, conversations, and special formats vary. If your proposal needs more time, special staging, or sits outside a standard slot, it may be better suited to a satellite/lead-in/follow-on event across August–September.

If you’re unsure, propose the duration you believe the work needs, and note any flexibility. We’ll shape final runtimes during programming.

This question is optional and only there to support respectful, safe and appropriate programming. If you choose to share, it helps us use correct pronouns, avoid misrepresentation, and place your work in the program where it fits best, including where relevant within themed main weekend and satellite events.

Across a mix of Perth metro venues, within other accessible Perth suburbs (for example Fremantle, Joondalup, Victoria Park or Mandurah), plus regional and online options where suitable. You can indicate preferences, but final placement depends on programming fit, availability and production needs.

Within the central city precinct, we can often provide volunteer support on the day to help run an event. Outside those central city limits, it’s best to propose something you can deliver with minimal in-person support. We can usually assist with promotion, ticketing and basic admin, but additional on-the-ground help will likely need to be organised by you or your partners. We’ll do our best, but as a volunteer-run festival, most volunteer capacity is concentrated around the main weekend program.

Perth Poetry Festival is volunteer-run and community-funded through donations and ticket sales. Artist payments and any logistical support are confirmed on selection, once the program and budget are locked. The form asks for your proposed budget to help us plan, and notes that performance-cost support is capped at set limits (shared with successful applicants) and may increase if additional funding comes in.

If you have a minimum fee or non-negotiable requirements (for example commercial travel and accommodation, access needs, or essential production costs), list them plainly in your EOI so we can assess feasibility early.

Grant support: if you’re applying for external funding, tell us. WA Poets can support funding applications with a letter of support, a formal partnership (where appropriate), or proof of festival participation. Past artists have successfully used grants and partner support to make ambitious work viable within the festival.

Sometimes. It depends on the event, the overall program budget, and what funding is confirmed.

Where we can, we may support interstate and international artists through a mix of options, including billeting with local poets and supporters, or shared accommodation. Billeting is always optional and only used where it’s a good fit. We’ll confirm what support is possible once selections are made and budgets are locked.

Paste links to your website, socials, and work samples in the links field for the relavant section, one link per line.

We are receiving an average of 100 EOIs since we bagan this process two years ago. Our EOI assessment is designed to be consistent, fair, and workable at scale, in line with standard practice across literature and arts festivals internationally. Each submission is reviewed by an assessment group drawn from the WA Poets Committee, previous festival guests, and WA Poets members with long-standing engagement with the festival. EOIs are read carefully and considered through a staged process so that artistic intent and audience experience are weighed alongside practical delivery.

How assessment progresses

Step 1: Initial review: Submissions are checked for completeness and basic feasibility, so proposals are assessed on comparable information rather than guesswork.

Step 2: Assessment review: Proposals are read in full and considered against shared criteria, including artistic strength, clarity of the live concept, and audience experience.

Step 3: Programming review: Shortlisted proposals are shaped into a coherent, deliverable program across venues, formats, and time slots, with attention to balance and practical constraints.

Step 4: Clarifications and flexibility: Where needed, we may contact applicants to clarify details or confirm flexibility around aspects of the proposal (for example timing, format, technical requirements, or placement within the program).

How we approach diversity
Diversity and inclusion sit at the centre of programming in two distinct ways: who is in the room, and what the work is doing. We aim for a program that reflects a wide range of voices and lived experience, including First Nations poets, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ poets, disabled and neurodivergent artists, and a breadth of gender identities and ages. We also seek diversity in the poetry itself: form, aesthetic, language, lineage, style, and performance practice, from page-based work to spoken word, experimental and cross-arts approaches. This year the form includes sections that further support this approach by making key information explicit.

The optional identity and pronouns question helps us program respectfully and safely and to consider fit for themed satellite events where relevant.

The aim is a process that is consistent in how it is applied, respectful in tone, and transparent in intent, while still allowing curatorial judgement to shape a strong, viable festival program. We strive to do our best to ensure proposals are assessed accurately and programmed in a way that supports strong outcomes for both artists and audiences.

We aim to contact applicants late March to mid-April 2026. If you’re interstate or international, ensure your location is clear in the form.

Please do not use this form to submit entries to Poetry on the Big Screens or applications for the festival’s Microresidencies.

We will have seaparate call-outs for those events later in the year. Keep a look out on our socials, or here on the website, or sign-up as a subscriber (link in the footer) to stay updated on these exciting programs.

If you’re having any issues using the form (errors, links not working, trouble uploading, or anything similar), email web@wapoets.com and include a screenshot if you can.

If you have already submitted, email web@wapoets.com with your name and proposal title, and tell us what needs changing.