2026 Festival
11–15 November 2026 · Sydney
Five days of poetry, dialogue, music, art and international cultural exchange in Sydney.
Poets from Australia and around the world will gather for readings, conversations, performances and encounters with audiences.
11–15 November 2026 · Sydney · Opens 11 November, NSW Parliament House
Opening Ceremony
Poets, artists and guests from around the world will gather at NSW Parliament House for the official opening of the 2026 Sydney International Poetry Festival.
- When
- Where
- NSW Parliament House6 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000
- How to attend
- Entry by official invitation only.Email jt8133@icloud.com to request an invitation.
Visitors pass through security screening on entry; allow a few extra minutes.
Parliament House stands on Macquarie Street in the centre of Sydney, a short walk from Martin Place and St James railway stations.
Voices from around the world
All poets
The 2026 theme
A Chorus Above the Fractures
There are fractures across our world.
Fractures created by war.
By race.
By religion.
By borders.
By memory.
By fear.
Yet poetry has always grown from the places where the world is wounded.
A poem may not stop a war.
But it can remind us that behind every border is a human being; behind every language, a heart; behind every wound, a longing to be understood.
At the Sydney International Poetry Festival 2026, poets from different nations will bring their languages, histories and voices together.
Not to erase our differences, but to make a chorus from them.