Year: 2018

Queensland Poetry awards are open!

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The Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an unpublished manuscript is in its 15th year! The award includes prize money of $2,000 and a publishing contract with University of Queensland Press (UQP). I was last year’s winner and it’s been wonderful and life changing! Enter your manuscript so I can pass along the Shapcott Prize baton! 😘💖

*** Visit the Queensland Poetry Festival (QPF) website for more info ***

Super deep words I said from the QPF piece above: “Winning the 2017 Thomas Shapcott prize has given a new life and sense of freedom to my writing practice. My voice as a non-binary person is very often silenced, so to win such a major award has given me the confidence to push myself further and to embrace my voice as a marginalised poet.”

All four Queensland Poetry awards are now open for your excellent entries, including the Arts Queensland supported Thomas Shapcott, Val Vallis & XYZ Awards, along with the ekphrasis prize supported by Philip Bacon Galleries. 

*** Once more with feeling: visit the QPF website for more info ***

rae-winning-shapcottQPF

Pic of me being a happy poetry dork, winning the Shapcott at QPF 2017. This could be you!

April news!

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I have so many great announcements this month and we’re only 4 days into April!

I’m featured on the website Transgender Writers and Writers with Intersex Variations in Australia. Sign up to check out the list here.

A recording of my Judith Wright Poetry Prize second placed poem ‘what even r u?’ will also be featured at the upcoming AVANT GAGA #36. The event will be held at Sappho Books in Glebe on Tuesday 10 April from 7-10pm and will feature readings from Evelyn Araluen, Raelee Lancaster, Omar Sakr and Holly Isemonger!

‘if there’s nothing out there, why am I searching?’

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My plant poem ‘if there’s nothing out there, why am I searching?’ is in this gorgeous issue of Umbel and Panicle!   

This poem is fresh and so new, it won’t even be in Milk Teeth! ‬

Have a read of the poem here.

Umbel & Panicle’s Issue 7: Roots is also full of poignant and inspiring poems, including “A Lesson In Uprooting” by Dhiyanah Hassan, “Clearcut” by RL Mosswood, and “Soon Come” by Saleem Hue Penny, and gorgeous photography by Che Gilson.

My poem placed second in the Judith Wright Poetry Prize!

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BIG NEWS: My poem ‘what even r u?’ came second in the Overland Literary Journal Judith Wright Poetry Prize!!

Congrats to Evelyn Araluen for her poems ‘Guarded by Birds’ and ‘Dropbear Poetics’ winning first and third places respectively. And also congrats to the shortlisted and commended poets! 

**Read the full announcement on Overland here**

I particularly liked this quote, which sums up my poem perfectly:

“Second-placed ‘what even r u?’ by Rae White is insistent in its breaking down of binaries (gendered in particular but also linguistic, via puns and inversions) while expressing admirable patience in the face of intolerance and abuse.”

PS: on that note, if you’re commenting/writing about this wonderful prize, please note my pronouns are they/them (e.g. ‘they just won a great prize!’) and I am non-binary, NOT a woman or female. Thank you 

The detailed judges’ report and three winning poems will be published in Overland 230, out in late March.

Glitter and Leaf Litter

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I have a new short story called ‘Glitter and Leaf Litter’ in Capricious Issue 9: The Gender Diverse Pronouns Issue!

All ten stories in this issue use gender diverse pronouns, featuring short fiction by Nino Cipri, ​Bogi Takács, Lauren E. Mitchell, A.E. Prevost, Cameron Van Sant, Rem Wigmore, Penny Stirling, Hazel Gold, SL Byrne, and myself, edited by A.C. Buchanan, with cover art by Laya Rose.

Buy an electronic copy here!

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Inboxed

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I have a new spooky story up on Slink Chunk Press!
CW: Trypophobia triggers.

Slink Chunk Press's avatarSlink Chunk Press

by Rae White

The air here is hard and mottled like lotus seedpods. My body is pockmarked and frigid.

Each day I’m finding it increasingly difficult to focus. I’m sliding, hardly blinking, mesmerised by the honeycombed revulsion surrounding me. Until I find a clear nook. It only takes one, a tiny seedless space, and I can slip into the office, walk confidently through the security doors and past the lunchroom.

I check my email daily. Or like all good employees, I try to. As my old manager Simon used to say, it’s the dedication that counts. Even if you’re office-bound until late in the evening, at least it looks like you’re doing something.

As I approach my desk I glimpse my old friend: the stained ring from my coffee mug that no one’s bothered to clean off. I make a giggle-tsk noise and Miriam quickly turns her head. She stares at me briefly…

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