Firefly Zodiac

Fiona McIlroy is passionate about poetry and the natural world. She majored in English Language & Literature (BA 1970 Univ of Melbourne), and then lived in pioneering rural co-operatives for 20 years, teaching in small schools and raising 3 children. Since moving to Canberra in 1992, Fiona published a joint anthology: Warm Corners, and her own poetry collection: Taste of a Poem (Ginninderra Press 2009 ) She has also been published in more than ten anthologies, and was shortlisted three times. Fiona was awarded the Poetry Prize in the HRAFF competition 2010, and ACT Mental Health Poetry Award 2009. She has facilitated a poetry group Majura Café Poets since 2009, producing a chapbook every year. She is happy to offer the 10th Anniversary chapbook Poetry on the Menu. Fiona organizes the Poetry in Motion train from Canberra to Sydney on a biannual basis, sponsored by Australian Poetry, NSW Trainlink and ACT Writers Centre. This results in a chapbook of poems written on the train. In 2016, the Poetry in Motion project was included as part of the Poetry on the Move Festival Canberra, where Fiona ran a workshop. In 2017, Fiona was invited to read her poetry at University of Sassari at a reading titled: Home to Poets (named after one of her poems written about Sardinia). Fiona was also invited to read at the Latin American Film Festival in Sydney 2015. She has a deep connection to the environment, and human impact on the earth. Many poems take the reader travelling between space and time.