Writing & News

Stuart Barnes awarded the Wesley Michel Wright prize for 2023!

BIG NEWS TODAY!!!

This message from the University of Melbourne:
Please join us in congratulating Stuart Barnes, winner of the 2023 Wesley Michel Wright Prize for an original work of verse or poetry.
Barnes’ winning work, Like to the Lark (Upswell Publishing), is described by the Prize Selection Committee as filled with “extraordinary poems, which draw their forms from across the planet, mix deep history and pop music, personal extremity and sophisticated humour, in such striking and memorable ways that each rereading proves even more rewarding than the last.”
In Barnes’ own words: “It’s thrilling to think of my work in deeper conversation with previous winners’ works that have shaped and sustained my writing and me for many years.”

And from me, his excited publisher:
So proud of you, Stuart. Brilliant poet, brilliant and generous person.