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Best of Australian Poems 2025 is the fifth anthology of Australian Poetry's series that aims to bring together some of the most surprising, most intriguing, most challenging work by Australian poets within a twelve month timeframe. Capturing the richness and diversity of Australian poetry, the series explores how poetic responses to the contemporary moment develop with each passing year.
The book opens with an introduction by its 2025 guest editors, multiple award-winning and highly respected poets, authors and editors Nam Le and Jill Jones.
Both Jill and Nam enjoy the highest reputations in their literary vocations. Jill is a significant Australian poet, highly regarded for her distinctive reworkings of the lyric, and her dextrous formal innovation. Her New & Selected, Acrobat Music, published in 2023, was short-listed in the 2024 John Bray Poetry Prize, and long-listed for the 2024 ALS Gold Medal. Nam's short-story collection, The Boat, was seen to restore the genre to centre stage, garnering national and overseas attention. His debut poetry book, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, won Book of the Year at the NSW Literary Awards, while also gathering a range of other commendations and award listings, including for the ALS Gold Medal.
Previous editors of this prestigious series have been Ellen van Neerven and Toby Fitch (2021); Jeanine Leane and Judith Beveridge (2022); Panda Wong and Gig Ryan (2023); and Kate Lilley and Shastra Deo (2024).
The Best of Australian Poems (BoAP) series is published by Australia's national poetry organisation, Australian Poetry, and features two different guest editors each year, to amplify the range of voices selected. It is funded by Creative Australia, Creative Victoria and individual patrons.
