2023 Wesley Michel Wright Prize in Poetry

I’m delighted and honoured that Like to the Lark has won the 2023 Wesley Michel Wright Prize in Poetry.

Thanks to the Prize Selection Committee, the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne and Wesley Michel Wright, who left a gift in his will supporting the Prize; to Terri-ann White at Upswell Publishing and Felicity Plunkett, my incredible publisher and editor, who believe/d in, nurture/d and wing/ed the book and me, and who do so much for poets and poetry in this country; and to my amazing family and friends. 

I’m truly moved by this recognition of my work and the Selection Committee’s feedback — ‘These extraordinary poems, which draw their forms from across the planet, mix deep history and pop music, personal extremity and sophisticated humour, in such striking and memorable ways that each rereading proves even more rewarding than the last.’ — and tickled pink to see ‘pop music’ and ‘personal extremity’ nudging each other. Some of the personal poems about illness, death and rape very nearly didn’t make it into the book — for cheering them (and me) on, extra special thanks to Terri-ann and Felicity, my mum and my closest friends. As for pop music, I think a new sonnet — ‘On Becoming a Swiftie at Fifty’ — has legs (thanks to Kate Middleton for planting the seed)!