The 2023 Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize Shortlist

Our thanks to everyone who entered and supported this year's Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize. This year's judges were Island's poetry editor, Kate Middleton, Jill Jones and Shastra Deo. Each judge read all submissions 'blind', and after much discussion, came to a collective shortlist of ten poems.

The shortlisted poets/poems are: 

• Chris Andrews for 'Shedload' and 'Bonsai Road Trip'

• Brigid Coleridge for 'Day 210'

• Zenobia Frost for 'For Exodus' 

• Jo Gardiner for 'Currawong'

• Glenn McPherson for 'All Day Ships and Horses' 

• Shey Marque for 'Improbable Acts of Proximity' 

• Isabella G. Mead for 'The Human Body' and 'Night Notes' 

• Caroline Reid for 'Rhyming Poem'   

Congratulation to all the shortlisted poets! 

The winner and runner ups with be announced week commencing 20 February, and all ten poems will be published in Island 167, out late March. In the meantime, you can enjoy the winning poems for 2022 in Island 164 and some of the winners from other years here.
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