ALL ACCESS PASS | Perth Poetry Festival 2026

Perth Poetry Festival 2026

FESTIVAL PASS

One pass. Four ticketed events. Four days of poetry.

From: Thursday, 27 August 2026

To: Sunday, 30 August 2026

Across: Perth / Boorloo

$105 worth of Festival tickets for $75.

If you're planning to make a Festival of it, this is the ticket.

The Perth Poetry Festival 2026 Festival Pass gives you admission to four of the Festival's major ticketed events, from the Gala at Perth Town Hall through to multicultural and contemporary poetry showcases and the final gathering of the Festival.

No booking them one at a time. One pass takes care of your major ticketed Festival program.

Your Festival Pass booking also includes free registration for three free Festival events where places need to be reserved: WAPI Awards Night, the Dual Book Launch and Poetry in the Age of AI. These events are free to attend and do not form part of the ticket value of the Pass.

Perth Poetry Club is also free and open to everyone. No registration is required. Just turn up.

General Festival Pass: $75
Individual ticket value: $105
You save $30.

WA Poets Member Festival Pass: $60
Individual member-ticket value: $85
You save $25.

Festival Pass + WA Poets Membership: $105
Equivalent four member-priced Festival tickets: $85
One year of WA Poets Inc membership: $50
Separate value: $135
You save $30.

Festival Passes are strictly limited.

Your Festival Pass includes admission to:

The Gala

Ear to the Ground

Thursday, 27 August 2026
Doors 6:00 pm | Show 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Perth Town Hall, 601 Hay Street, Perth WA 6000

The heart of Perth Poetry Festival. Ear to the Ground brings poets, performers, music and audiences together at Perth Town Hall for the Festival's flagship night.

Grains of Sand

A Multicultural Soirée

Saturday, 29 August 2026
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
City of Perth Library, 573 Hay Street, Perth WA 6000

Voices shaped by migration, memory, language and resilience come together in a multicultural poetry showcase crossing cultures, histories, places and lived experience.

Featuring Oormila V. Prahlad, Jack Collard, Mai White, Natascha Balak, Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, Robert Wood, Cyndy Moody and Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon.

Hosted by Asha Rajan.

Saturday Night Poets

with the Young Poets Showcase

Saturday, 29 August 2026
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
City of Perth Library, 573 Hay Street, Perth WA 6000

A Saturday night of live poetry bringing established, emerging and young voices together across styles, forms and lived experience.

The evening culminates in a special performance by Grey Maali. Allan Boyd, Maitland Schnaars, Kevin Gillam and James Webb bring poetry into conversation with cello, didgeridoo, electric guitar, digital audio and visual projection in the immersive collaborative work Listen!.

Hosted by Samantha Melia.

Festival Finale & Micro-Residency Showcase

Sunday, 30 August 2026
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
The Jonesway Theatre, 448 William Street, Perth WA 6000

One final gathering. One final stage.

The Festival closes with featured poets and the first public sharing of work emerging from Perth Poetry Festival's three one-day Micro-Residencies.

Featuring Oormila V. Prahlad, Patrick McCarthy, Coral Carter, Roe Kanchi and Emilie Collyer, alongside 2026 Micro-Residency poets Karen Lowry, Sarita Slater and Samantha Cook.

Hosted by Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon.

Free Festival registrations included with your Pass

The Festival also includes free events open to everyone. These events do not form part of the $105 General or $85 Member individual ticket values above.

For the following three events, free registration is included with your Festival Pass so your place is held, subject to venue capacity.

WA Poets Presents: WAPI Awards Night

Free Festival Event · Registration Included

Friday, 28 August 2026
Doors 6:00 pm | 6:30 pm start
City of Perth Library, 573 Hay Street, Perth WA 6000

Free to attend. Celebrate the 2026 Poetry d'Amour Contest and Ros Spencer Poetry Prize, and the poets whose work has risen to the top this year. Free registration is included for Festival Pass holders.

Dual Book Launch

Giles Watson & Karen Lowry · Free Festival Event · Registration Included

Sunday, 30 August 2026
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Mattie Furphy House, Clare Copse, Swanbourne

Free to attend. Join Giles Watson and Karen Lowry for the launch of Eungedup: A Wetland Summer Diary and This Fragile Thing. Free registration is included for Festival Pass holders.

Poetry in the Age of AI

Can a Machine Write a Poem? · Free Festival Event · Registration Included

Sunday, 30 August 2026
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Mattie Furphy House, Clare Copse, Swanbourne

Should poets be worried? Can AI write creatively?

Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon, Dennis Haskell AM and Roe Kanchi consider what Artificial Intelligence means for poetry, creativity, authorship and copyright, now and as the technology rapidly develops.

A substantial part of the session will be opened to the room. Bring your questions, experiences and disagreements.

Free to attend. Free registration is included for Festival Pass holders.

Perth Poetry Club

Perth Poetry Festival Edition · Free Festival Event

Saturday, 29 August 2026
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
The Moon Café, Northbridge

FREE and open to everyone. No registration required. Just turn up.

A special Perth Poetry Festival edition of Perth Poetry Club, bringing Festival poets and the local poetry community together for one of Perth's longest-running live poetry gatherings.

Please note: Perth Poetry Club is not part of the paid Festival Pass and no booking or registration is required to attend.

Please note: Workshops are not included in the Festival Pass and must be booked separately.

Books

Books by Festival poets will be available for purchase and signing at selected events courtesy of our official festival bookseller, Rabble Books & Games.

Accessibility:

The Festival takes place across several venues. Please contact us if you have specific access requirements and we will assist wherever possible.

Acknowledgement of Country:

We wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we are operating on, the Whadjuk people and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region. We pay our respects to them and their cultures; and to Elders both past and present.

Four ticketed events. Three free registrations. Perth Poetry Club free with no registration. One Festival weekend.

Visit perthpoetryfestival.com for the full Festival program and individual event information.