From falling in love to funerals, poetry accompanies us through life at every step of the way. We may not always try our hand at the artform ourselves – though more power to those who do, especially the writers published by the likes of Black Pepper, Five Islands, Giramondo, UWAP and other local champions of the artform – but the power of a poem to stir the blood or move an audience to tears is unabated since the days of Homer – and earlier.
The 2026 Youth Poetry Ambassadors are Gunditjmara poet, musician and creative Isabella Eichler-Onus; poet and winner of the 2025 Bankstown Poetry Grand Slam, Jihad Yassine; the current Australian Poetry Slam Champion, Arantza Garcia; and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and co-founder of Hyades Magazine, Janiru Liyanage.
