Island has some great new projects planned for 2025 – more opportunities for writers and more great stories, poems and essays for readers.
This includes a range of events, workshops and mentorships.

For more details keep checking this page, and keep an eye on our newsletter and socials.

Recent events

Launch of Island 175 & panel discussion

Friday 19 September 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
The University of Tasmania River’s Edge Building
2 Invermay Road
Launceston

Free event but registration required

Celebrate the launch of Island 175, an issue packed with poetry, short stories and essays.

We will also be joined by Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Charlotte Wood AM and renowned Tasmania artist Patrick Hall for a panel discussion about the role of creativity in difficult times.

Our thanks to the University of Tasmania for providing the venue for this event

Proudly part of this year’s Junction Arts Festival.

Cover image: Poinciana by the Brisbane River by Jennifer Tyers

Loved Stories: a reading event for a new generation of storytellers

Wed 6 Aug 2025 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Grinners Dive Bar
132-134 Elizabeth St, Hobart TAS 7000

Free event but registration required

This year's UTAS third year creative writing students were challenged not to "write what you know" but to "write what you love". What they produced were stories that range from horror to rom com, lyrical writing to memoir, comedy to absurdism, social commentary to fantasy.

In this event, brought to you by UTAS and Island, performers Ryk Goddard, Ben Walter, Jane Longhurst and Frith Godfrey will bring to life excerpts from the work of storytellers Elizabeth Scott, Morgan Kelly, Lonnie Dalton, Maddie Goss, Tony Barrett, Ollie Johns, Lucy Haughton and Samuel O'Neil Hamad.

Expect a hungry bushwalking guide, a tradie who falls for a witch, a man who can't find his dog, a new take on the idea of matriarchy, insights into the life of a professional mourner, a trip across the Tasman bridge with a cancer patient and his volunteer driver, the adventures of a seagull detective and the tribulations of a drifter who washes up near a towering castle.

Please come, grab yourself a drink, and enjoy listening to the words of the new generation of Tasmanian storytellers.

Nature writing panel

Where: Online
When: 6-7pm AEST, Wednesday 9 July 2025

In collaboration with Fullers Bookshop and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, we are delighted to present a new Nature Writing Prize, and invite writers to submit their finest work exploring nature, whether in fiction, nonfiction, or graphic narrative form.

To inspire fresh and unexpected perspectives, we recently hosted an online panel discussion on all things nature writing. The panel was chaired by Island's Editorial Manager, Jane Rawson, and featured James Bradley, Laura Jean McKay and Sharleigh Crittenden. To view the recording click here.

Meet the panelists:

James Bradley

James is a writer and critic whose Deep Water: The World in the Ocean, won the 2025 NSW Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction and a Gold Medal in the 2025 Nautilus Awards. He is an Honorary Associate at the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney and his latest novel, Landfall, is published by Penguin.

Laura Jean McKay

Laura Jean is the author of The Animals in That Country - winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award, The Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and the Aurealis Award. Laura is also the author of Holiday in Cambodia and Gunflower. She is the 2025 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow, Ireland, and teaches Creative Writing at Massey University.

Sharleigh Crittenden

Sharleigh is a Wiradjuri writer, researcher and mother living and writing on Wangal Country. Her short story ‘River Fish’ won the 2023 First Nations Storytelling Prize and her poem ‘Narrowboats’ was shortlisted for in the 2024 Nakata Brophy Prize. Her work has been published in Island, Portside Review and The Rumpus, among others. She is currently working on her debut novel.

Tasmania Reads at The Hedberg

Three events showcasing Tasmanian Literary Award Winners, leading contemporary poets, writers, critics and researchers.

When and where:
Friday 28 March from 3.30pm -7.30pm
Ian Potter Recital Hall
The Hedberg, Hobart

3.30pm - The Tasmanian Literary Award Winners In Conversation
Join Danielle Wood in a special panel showcasing the achievements of the recently named winners of the Tasmania Literary Awards and the vibrancy of Tasmanian literature.
Presented by the University of Tasmania in partnership with Arts Tasmania

5pm - Island Poetry Panel
'There is another world, and it is this one’– Paul Eluard.
Join Island’spoetry editor, Kate Middleton, in conversation with Sarah Holland-Batt, Esther Ottaway and Graeme Miles as they engage place in conversation with the imagination.
Presented by Island Magazine in partnership with University of Tasmania and Arts Tasmania

6.30pm - AI, Arts and Copyright
A panel discussion exploring the challenges and opportunities of AI and Copyright in the arts.
Presented by the University of Tasmania in partnership with Arts Tasmania

All sessions are free but registration is required. You will be able to register for one, two or all three panels. You will also be able to select the number of tickets you require for each one.

This event is part of Tasmania Reads, an annual celebration of reading in all forms.

Join us to celebrate the launch of Island 173

When and where:
Thursday 27 March, 5.30-7.00pm
Hobart Library
Level 1, 91 Murray Street
Hear from first-time contributors Lars Rogers and Alexander Poljansek alongsideIsland'sManaging Editor, Jane Rawson.

This is a free event, but to help with planning, we do ask that you RSVP.

When and where:
Thursday 27 March, 5.30-7.00pm
Hobart Library
Level 1, 91 Murray Street

Our thanks to Libraries Tasmania for kindly providing the venue for this event.

Cover image: Alexander Poljansek, Consequence