First Friday, our monthly conversation with an industry professional, is a chance for our community to learn more about the writing and publishing industry. This March, we invite you to our online event with David Stavanger.

Since 2003, Red Room Poetry has been exploring ways to enlarge and celebrate the diversity of Australian poetry. Well-known for its commissioning of works and poetic projects, Red Room Poetry also provides non-traditional avenues for poets to get their work before a new audience, be it through performance, video/audio or online and social media. This First Friday, join one of Red Room’s Artistic Directors, David Stavanger, as he discusses different approaches to publishing, the current landscape for poets, and why the printed word might not be the only published word for today’s writers.

This event starts online at 12:30pm, via Zoom, and will run for 60 minutes. If there is time, we will take audience questions at the end. Free and open to members and non-members, but RSVPs are essential. You can also submit a question for David in the ‘Additional Information – Order Notes’ section at Checkout.

Registered attendees will receive a link to access this event prior to the start time.

David Stavanger is an Artistic Director at Red Room Poetry, including managing Poetry Month. David was previously the co-director of QLD Poetry Festival and part of the Programming Team at Woodford Folk Festival. He is also known for his work as the producer of MAD Poetry (a project for writers with lived mental health experience.) In terms of his own practice, David is a poet and editor living on Dharawal land. His first full-length poetry collection, The Special (UQP, 2014), was awarded several prizes and the follow-up, Case Notes (UWAP, 2020), won the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry. David is the co-editor of Solid Air: Collected Australian & New Zealand Spoken Word (UQP, 2019) and Admissions: Voices Within Mental Health (Upswell, 2022.) His latest collection is The Drop Off (Upswell, 2025.)