Winner of 2019 Victorian Premier’s Award for Poetry

Southerly congratulates our Poetry Editor, Kate Lilley, for winning the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Award for Poetry for her collection Tilt (Vagabond Press).

Tilt is a complex poetic exploration of types of abuse; an archive of memory. It’s divided into three sections. The first is an autobiographical catalogue of abuse, rape, and everyday harassment of women and girls. The second section expands on other forms of abuse – from Australian asylum-seeker policy cleverly rendered in Catch 22 pantoum, to the psychiatric medicalisation of the inconveniently non-conformist.

Read the full Judges’ report here.

In acceptance the award, Kate paid tribute to small publishers and presses, such as Michael Brennan at her publisher Vagabond. Southerly sends warm congratulations to them too.