Events to commemorate the centenary of the First World War will occur between 2014 and 2018.
ANZAC Day, together with the ANZAC ‘Tradition’ and ANZAC ‘Spirit’, evolving from the Gallipoli landing and, increasingly, the Western Front, have long influenced society in Australia and New Zealand.
As a source of cultural information, poetry has been continuously available as a medium of expression. Poems written at a particular point in time can reveal what ideas and opinions were prevalent in that era. Thus poetry makes it possible to reflect upon and compare writers’ perspectives across background, time and place.
Given this ability, the ANZAC Day Centenary Poetry Project challenges poets to answer the following question:
What does ANZAC Day mean to you, to today’s families, communities or nations?
The objectives of the ANZAC Centenary Poetry Project are:
• To use new poetry written by today’s poets to illustrate the diversity of current views about Australia’s and New Zealand’s commemorations of military history and how these influence, or have influenced, modern society;
• To provide an opportunity for today’s poets from Australia and New Zealand to express their thoughts and ideas about how their nations’ commemorations of military history, together with the emotions these evoke, are reflected in modern society; and
• To contrast these modern views with those from the past by including poems from the 19th and 20th centuries and the early years of this century.
The principal outcome will be a Publication containing 200 poems. There will be 100 newly written and previously unpublished poems appearing alongside 100 older poems. The publications will contain 100 photographs of war memorials from country areas of Australia and New Zealand.
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