Blak Poetry

Lorna Munro, or ‘Yilinhi’, is a Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi woman, multidisciplinary artist and regular radio and podcast host at Sydney’s Radio Skid Row. A long-time active member of her Redfern/Waterloo community, her work is informed by her passion and well-studied insight in areas such as culture, history, politics and popular culture. Lorna has travelled the world showcasing her skills and distinctive style of poetry and political commentary. She was also the sole designer and creator of Sydney’s—and possibly Australia’s—first initiative to teach Aboriginal language through poetry, in partnership with Red Room Poetry in 2015. Throughout her career she has been on stage, in films and on paper. She compiled and edited Paper Dreaming: Our Stories Our Way for Cambridge University Press (2015). Lorna continues to work tirelessly mastering many art forms, raising funds, and supporting and advocating for her community and her people on the local, national and international stage. In 2019, Lorna was announced as a recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter fellowship and in 2020 she was the recipient of the PLAYKING initiative with The Griffith Theatre and publishing poetry for ‘Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word’ edited by David Stranger and Anne- Marie Te Whiu, ‘Fire Front:First Nations poetry and power today’ edited by Alison Whittaker and ‘Guwayu- For All Times: A collection of First Nations Poems’ commissioned by Red Room Company and edited by Jeanine Leanne. Lorna continues her work with the Redfern/Waterloo Community Archive and mentoring our future podcasters and storytellers while caring for her son and nephews.

Also known as ‘Ancestress’, Teila Watson is a BirriGubba and Gangulu writer, poet, singer, and performer whose art practice revolves around climate change, ecological and social sustainability and therefore the importance of Land Rights and First Nations sovereignty.

Cheryl Leavy is a Kooma and Nguri writer whose poem Ngali – We two won the 2022 Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize. Cheryl’s first children’s book, Yanga Mother, will be published by UQP in 2024 and her second, For You Country, in 2025. Passionate about language revitalisation, Cheryl often writes in her Kooma language.

Samuel Watson is a poet and raconteur based in Brisbane. He was honoured with the Patrick White Award in 2018. Samuel is proud to be a University of Queensland Press Writer.