ALL ACCESS PASS | Perth Poetry Festival 2026

Perth Poetry Festival 2026

FESTIVAL PASS

One pass. Six ticketed events. Nine days of poetry.

From: Saturday, 22 August 2026

To: Sunday, 30 August 2026

Across: Perth / Boorloo

$120 worth of Festival tickets for $85.

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 six of the Festival's major ticketed events, from the live charge of The Dopamine Drop through to the Gala, multicultural and contemporary poetry showcases, a timely conversation about poetry and AI, and the final gathering of the Festival.

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

Your Festival Pass booking also includes registration, where required, for selected free Festival events. These free events are included as part of your Festival itinerary for information and convenience. They do not form part of the $120 individual ticket value of the Pass.

General Festival Pass: $85

Individual ticket value: $120

You save $35.

WA Poets Member Festival Pass: $65

Individual member-ticket value: $90

You save $25.

Festival Pass + WA Poets Membership: $105

Get the complete Festival Pass and become a WA Poets Inc member for a year for just $20 more than the General Festival Pass.

Festival Passes are strictly limited.

Your Festival Pass includes:

The Dopamine Drop

Slam Poetry Showcase

Saturday, 22 August 2026

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Baby Shoe, The Shoe Bar and Cafe, Yagan Square

Begin the Festival with poetry built for the stage. The Dopamine Drop brings together performance poets, rhythm, flow, punchlines and truth for a night driven by the particular energy that happens when poet and audience meet in the room.

The Gala

Ear to the Ground

Thursday, 27 August 2026

Doors 6:00 pm | Show 6:30 pm – 9:00 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.

Poetry in the Age of AI

Can a Machine Write a Poem?

Sunday, 30 August 2026

4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Mattie Furphy House, 88 Wood Street, Swanbourne WA 6010

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.

Festival Finale & Micro-Residency Showcase

Sunday, 30 August 2026

7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

One final gathering. One final stage.

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

Featuring Oormila Prahlad, Patrick McCarthy, Coral Carter, Roe Kanchi and Emilie Collyer, together with the 2026 Micro-Residency poets.

Hosted by Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon.

Free Festival events included in your itinerary

The Festival Pass also brings the Festival's free events into the one booking wherever registration is required. These events are free to attend and are included here for information and convenience. They are not counted towards the $120 value of the six ticketed events.

Where a free event requires registration, Festival Pass holders will also be registered for that event, subject to venue capacity.

WA Poets Presents: WAPI Awards Night

Free Festival Event

Friday, 28 August 2026

City of Perth Library

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. Registration is included for Festival Pass holders.

Perth Poetry Club

Perth Poetry Festival Edition · Free Festival Event

Free to attend. 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.

Dual Book Launch

Giles Watson & Karen Lowry · Free Festival Event

Sunday, 30 August 2026

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Mattie Furphy House, 88 Wood Street, Swanbourne WA 6010

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

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.

Six ticketed events. One booking. Save $35 and make a Festival of it.

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