Best of Australian Poems 2024

by Shastra Deo (editor), Kate Lilley (editor)

Best of Australian Poems is an annual anthology collecting previously published and unpublished poems to create a poetic snapshot and barometer of the year that was. Capturing the richness and diversity of Australian poetry across a timeframe of 1 July 2023–1 August 2024, the series (now in its fourth year) explores how poetic responses to the contemporary moment develop with each passing year.

The book opens with an introduction by its 2024 editors, multiple award-winning and highly respected poets and editors, Kate Lilley and Shastra Deo. Kate is one of the longest-standing poets of repute and respect in the country, with work considered ground-breaking and innovating over decades. Shastra’s own major prizes include the prestigious, national Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and their poetry is also continually experimental and fearless.

Previous editors of this prestigious series have been Ellen van Neerven and Toby Fitch (2021); Jeanine Leane and Judith Beveridge (2022); and Panda Wong and Gig Ryan (2023).

The Best of Australian Poems (BoAP) series is published by Australia’s national poetry organisation, Australian Poetry, and features two different guest editors each year, to amplify the range of voices selected. It is funded by Creative Australia and individual patrons.

Genres: Poetry

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2024

About the author

Shastra Deo was born in Fiji, raised in Melbourne, and lives in Brisbane, Australia. Her first book, The Agonist (UQP 2017), won the 2016 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and the 2018 ALS Gold Medal.

Photo © Kate Lund

Reviews

[Shane Starling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is stuffed full of crackers

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always a pleasure to read the Poets of Australia.