Melbourne / Naarm, Australia • Aug/Sep 2026
Sonic Poetry Festival is returning in 2026!
Sonic Poetry Festival will be moving to a cadence of holding a festival every two years. There will not be a two-week festival in 2025. The Sonic Poetry Festival Committee will be using 2025 to commit ourselves to a communal practice of holding space for each other and the micro-communities we belong to with a monthly practice of writing, reading, sharing, connecting, and listening. As an unfunded organisation and working artists, we want to give the Melbourne/Naarm poetry community the most sustainable and healing events we can. This two-year cadence is our best way of achieving that goal. We look forward to connecting with each of you through poetry during 2025. Keep an eye out for some micro-engagements in 2025 and we will see you for our two-week festival in 2026!
We encourage you to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know of any micro-engagements in 2025 and for the EOI announcements in 2026!
Sonic Poetry Festival is a community-based grassroots poetry and spoken word festival based in Melbourne / Naarm.
Our aim is to connect poetry and spoken word practitioners of all varieties, audience members, gig organisers, convenors and facilitators in a celebration of poetry and the spoken word. We would like to create entrances for gigs, artists and the poets out there quietly writing and reciting. We seek to create pathways for people who need poetry in their lives and don’t know it, and provide space for people to share their stories. We also wish to serve micro-communities that deserve to exist.
I’m New Here! What’s in it for me?
The Melbourne/Naarm (including regional Victoria) poetry community is a welcoming, warm, and inspiring space to share and experiment with new work and to grow as a poet. Poets of all backgrounds, styles and experience levels are not only welcome, but wanted in this space. Come through, listen, learn, grow, and (if it’s an open mic) share. Welcome to the community!
I’ve Always Been Here! What about me?
This poetry festival is primarily an opportunity to connect gigs all over Melbourne/Naarm (and regional Victoria), figuratively and literally. It is an opportunity to share the poetic stories that highlight our common humanity and to support each other. This is a celebration of that.