Category: News
Announcing the winner of the inaugural Southerly Poetry Prize
Congratulations to the winner of the inaugural Southerly Poetry Prize: “Now ● Here ● This” by Christopher “Kit” Kelen Kit will receive a cash prize of $2000 AUD, with his winning poem published in Southerly 81.1 in October 2026. Along with all shortlisted entries, “Now ● Here ● This” will also be published in Southerly online. The judges, Paul Dawson, Bronwyn Lea, and Kate Fagan read 661 anonymised entries before selecting a shortlist and winner. Here is what they said: “Now ● Here ● This” stands out for its linguistic verve, its lyric expression of a soul on the cusp of,…
The Southerly Poetry Prize Shortlist
We are delighted to share the shortlist of the inaugural Southerly Poetry Prize: Our immense congratulations to all, and our immense thanks to all the poets who shared their work with us. We look forward to announcing the winner on the 10th of August. The judges for this year’s inaugural prize are Paul Dawson (Southerly‘s poetry editor), along with esteemed poets Kate Fagan and Bronwyn Lea. Paul Dawson’s latest collection of poetry is Lines of Desire (Puncher & Watmann, 2025). His first book, Imagining Winter (IP, 2006), won the national IP Picks Best Poetry Award. Paul has been anthologised in Contemporary Asian Australian…
Announcing the Grace Southerly Emerging Writers Fellowship
Southerly, in partnership with Varuna, is delighted to announce the inaugural Grace Southerly Emerging Writers Fellowship. Three two-week fellowships were awarded to emerging writers of fiction or poetry who demonstrate a fresh voice, a control over form, and a willingness to experiment. We congratulate Brendon McLeod, Eric Jiang, and Greg Foster. Read more on Varuna’s website. The inaugural Grace Southerly Emerging Writers Fellowship is offered to three emerging writers as part of the Varuna Residential Fellowships program. Recipients have no full-length work published. The three fellowship recipients receive: A two-week residency at Varuna, uninterrupted time to write in a private…
Announcing the Inaugural Southerly Essay
Southerly is proud to announce the launch of the inaugural Southerly Essay, written by K.A Ren Wyld, entitled “Serve the tea Blak”. This essay is a conversation with, and an extended reflection on the award-winning work, Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea by Natalie Harkin (Wakefield Press, 2025). K.A Ren Wyld reflects on Natalie Harkins’ book, its representation of the history of Aboriginal women’s domestic labour and servitude, and its use of archival research to speak back to the colony and to power, through literature. As part of Southerly‘s ongoing revival, we will publish on our website a series of essays, each focused on…
The Southerly Poetry Prize – closed
We’re delighted to announce Southerly 79.3, The Way We Live Now, a special issue edited by Melissa Hardie and Kate Lilley. This digital issue is offered FREE and open access to all, with thanks to Create NSW.
The Way We Live Now offers a collection of pandemic-adjacent writing, featuring new work by Claire Aman, Chris Andrews, Chris Arnold, Stuart Barnes, Vanessa Berry, Pam Brown, Pascalle Burton, Anne Casey, Julie Chevalier, Eileen Chong, Matthew Clarke, Josie/Jocelyn Deane, Shastra Deo, Lucy Dougan, Dave Drayton, Johanna Ellersdorfer, Blake Falcongreen, Michael Farrell, Liam Ferney, Toby Fitch, Angela Gardner, Jake Goetz, Elena Gomez …
Announcing Southerly 80.1: First, The Future
We’re delighted to announce Southerly 80.1, ‘First, The Future‘, co-edited by guest co-editor K.A.Ren Wyld and new Southerly editor Roanna Gonsalves. This issue strongly affirms the crucial importance of imaginative labour and imaginative literary production i.e. the narrative and non-narrative literary forms of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry, as well as of literary scholarship, in the passing down of knowledge between generations, as our world continues to deal with the fallout of colonialism, of genocide and war, of climate change and of AI. ‘First, The Future’ emphasises the value of the work we do as writers and scholars of literature, work…
Announcing Southerly 79.3: The Way We Live Now
We’re delighted to announce Southerly 79.3, The Way We Live Now, a special issue edited by Melissa Hardie and Kate Lilley. This digital issue is offered FREE and open access to all, with thanks to Create NSW.
The Way We Live Now offers a collection of pandemic-adjacent writing, featuring new work by Claire Aman, Chris Andrews, Chris Arnold, Stuart Barnes, Vanessa Berry, Pam Brown, Pascalle Burton, Anne Casey, Julie Chevalier, Eileen Chong, Matthew Clarke, Josie/Jocelyn Deane, Shastra Deo, Lucy Dougan, Dave Drayton, Johanna Ellersdorfer, Blake Falcongreen, Michael Farrell, Liam Ferney, Toby Fitch, Angela Gardner, Jake Goetz, Elena Gomez …
Southerly is out of lockdown!
After suspending publication for all of 2020 and most of 2021, we are delighted to announce that Southerly is in production again. Issue 79.2: Writing Through Fences—Archipelago of Letters is now available in print and digital formats, and 79.3: The Way We Live Now is currently in production for release in December as an online issue. The Southerly website has been thoroughly revamped to make for easier access and smoother running. This is a work in progress – recent issues and their associated Long Paddock content have been made properly accessible once more, along with shop and subscription functions –…
The Way We Live Now: Call for Papers 2021
An online issue edited by Melissa Hardie and Kate Lilley In this first fully online issue in Southerly’s 80-year history we seek to create a space to document, imagine and urgently address the way we live now. At a time when states of precarity, inhospitality, upheaval and emergency have become everyday characteristics of life, how are Australians faring? We encourage creative and critical submissions to sit alongside commissioned work by established and emerging writers. In particular we call for shorter responses (1-3 pages) on how to live in and through isolation/dislocation, what makes life liveable, and what kinds of ‘we’ are…
The future of Southerly
Southerly is seeking funds to enable it to continue publishing in 2020. We stress that Southerly editors are themselves not paid. All money goes to writers, to the production and distribution of the issues and a small amount to administration. We also seek ideas from our wide national and international readership re securing Southerly’s future.
Australian Short Story Festival tickets now on sale
The annual Australian Short Story Festival is back this October and for the first time it is being held in Melbourne! From the 18th-20th of October at the Hawthorn Arts Festival, join a number of great authors and share your love for the short story form with other short story fans! Grab your tickets now at: australianshortstoryfestival.com/tickets. KEY INFORMATION Date: 18-20th October, 2019 Location: Hawthorn Arts Centre, Melbourne (Address: 360 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn VIC 3122) Tickets: Ticket booking via Eventbrite (link is located on the Australian Short Story Festival website: https://australianshortstoryfestival.com/tickets/) Website: https://australianshortstoryfestival.com x Twitter: @Shortstory_Fest x Facebook: @australianshortstoryfestival.org x Instagram: @australianshortstoryfestival