A Wiradjuri woman from Central New South Wales, Kerry Reed-Gilbert has performed and conducted writing workshops nationally and internationally. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the First Nations Australians Writers Network (FNAWN). In 2013 she co-edited a collection of works with the US Mob Writing (UMW) group ‘By Close of Business’, and was co-editor for the Ora Nui journal, a collaborative collection between First Nations Australia writers and Maori writers.

Kerry is a former member of the Aboriginal Studies Press Advisory Committee. Her poetry and prose have been published in many journals and anthologies nationally and internationally, including the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature and Southerly. She is a member of the ACT Us Mob Writing group and First Nations Australia Writers’ Network.

She has edited, published and been published in numerous books and publications, including Talkin’ About Country: Poetry Collection (Kuracca); The Strength of Us as Women: Black Women Speak (ed.; Ginninderra Press); Our Place: Stories about Good Practice in Youth Work with Young Aboriginal People (ed. with Shane Brown; South Sydney Youth Services); Message Stick: Contemporary Aboriginal Writing (ed.; IAD Press); Ngunnunggula (Belonging to Here): Stories and Poems (ed.; FreeXpression); and Black Woman Black Life (Wakefield Press).

In 2006 she received an ‘Outstanding Achievement in Poetry’ award and ‘Poet of Merit’ Award from the International Society of Poets. In 2005 she toured Aotearoa New Zealand as part of the Honouring Words 3rd International Indigenous Authors Celebration Tour. In 2003 she was awarded an International Residence from ATSIAB to attend Art Omi, New York, USA; and in 1997 she toured South Africa performing in ‘ECHOES’ a national tour of the spoken word.

Her work has been translated in French, Korean, Bengali, Dutch, and other languages.

State Editor Jen Webb's notes

Kerry Reed-Gilbert is a Wiradjuri woman who is a leading figure in Canberra poetry, particularly in the contributions she makes to raising the profile of contemporary Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander poets. Like her famous father, Kevin Gilbert, she writes poems that present what can be a scathing critique of the politics of contemporary culture. But as well as the activist eye, Kerry explores her passion for land, culture, family and humanity.

Poems

‘Just leave your mark here’

‘Red Earth’

‘Wiradjuri Country’

‘Got ya’

‘The old rugged cross’

Recording

Kerry Reed-Gilbert reads 'Wiradjuri Country', 'Got ya', and 'Just leave your mark here'

Further reading and links

AustLit – Kerry Reed-Gilbert

‘Working with Words: Kerry Reed-Gilbert’, The Wheeler Centre, 19 October 2015

Cordite Poetry Review – Kerry Reed-Gilbert