Joel McKerrow is an award winning writer, speaker, children’s author and, having performed for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world, is one of Australia’s most successful internationally touring, performance POETS. He has published six different poetry books (including his poetry book for school-aged- Story Beats and Rhyme Drops), has seven poetry/music albums and in March 2024 releases his first Junior/MG graphic novel Series- Urban Legend Hunters (with Larrikin House). Joel is extremely passionate about creative education and has taught more than 100 000 students throughout the world how to tap into their imagination and spill it out onto the page (and share it on the stage). He is currently the Director of The School for Creative Development, the Artist Ambassador for ‘Tearfund Australia, is on teaching staff at Story Studios Australia and is host of The Deep Place: On Creativity and Spirituality Podcast. Joel was the third ever Australian representing at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships and since has toured the world over performing and speaking on stages alongside people like Linda Woolverton (writer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King), Krista Monson (Cirque Du Soleil Creative Director) Ken Black (Nike Creative Director) and many more.
Read more on his official website
For the past fifteen years Joel McKerrow has been an award winning writer, keynote speaker, performer, creativity specialist, children's author and educator. Renowned as one of Australia's most successful performance poets, he has captivated audiences worldwide, performing for hundreds of thousands of people. In this time Joel has published seven spoken word/music albums, six books of poetry, a kids graphic novel series with Larrikin House and has just signed a three book deal with Penguin Random House.
Joel is the artist Ambassador for the aid and development organisation TEARFUND Australia, is on teaching staff at the Melbourne Young Writers Studio and is the co-founder/host of the The Deep Place: On Creativity and Spirituality Podcast. He was the third ever Australian representative at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships in the USA, the co-founder of community arts organisation, 'The Centre for Poetics and Justice’ and the host of the Australian National Poetry Slam for the State of Victoria (2017-2019).
Joel is currently the Director of The School for Creative Development and works extensively with students, writers and creatives of all types to help them develop their creative practice. Through his SCHOOLS WORK he visits about 50 schools each year (teaching well over 100,000 students in the last decade), where he performs and teaches the creative process of both poetry and story-writing.
Joel is a highly sought after keynote speaker and performer at festivals, retreats and conferences throughout the world. Over the last few years this has included… Story Gathering Conference (Nashville), The International Transforming Education Conference, Melbourne Writers Festival, Greenbelt festival (UK), Graceland Festival (Netherlands), Somerset Storyfest, The Global Health Summit, Write Around the Murray, Breath and the Clay (North Carolina), Whitsundays Youth Voices Festival, The Justice Conference (AUS, US and NZ), Cairns Tropical Writers Festival, Williamstown Literary Festival, Beyond the Books festival, Once Upon a Festival, Anglican Schools Australia Conference, Amnesty International Conference, and many, many more.
Whether in the creative industries, at schools, or keynote speaking/consultancy in the corporate/community sector, Joel uses the Creative Process as a framework for growth and development in whatever field he is speaking to. After sessions with the VILLAGE ROADSHOW management team Clarke Kirby, the CEO, said, ‘Joel is a true creative genius and his impact on my team was nothing short of extraordinary.' So whether you are after passionate performance poetry, inspiring keynote speaking, creative consultancy for your organisation, development of your own creative practice or inspiration and learning for your students…Joel covers it all.
Creativity specialist Joel McKerrow is an award-winning author, speaker, educator, and is one of Australia’s most successful and experienced performance poets. For fifteen years full-time he has toured on stages throughout world, including representing Australia at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships. With seven poetry albums and six poetry books, as well as his first junior-fiction/Graphic novel being published in March 2024 (Urban Legend Hunters: The Dreaded Mr Snipe), Joel brings a wealth of creative experience in both poetry and story-writing sure to inspire and equip your students.
Where were you born?
On Dharawal Country, at Wollongong hospital in NSW.
What other jobs have you had?
I started out pushing trolleys across uneven carparks as a teenager, but then spent many years as a youth worker and then university lecturer focused on youth work and the worldview formation of Young People.
What themes are recurring in your work?
A lot of my poetry work revolves around the intersection of creativity and self-growth. I tend to write a lot of inspirational pieces that came out of times in my own journey when I needed to be inspired and hence transfer into inspiring others in their journey. I also write a lot about social issues and our place within this world.
My fiction writing tends to do the same, but in a very different way. I love writing humorous stories that make us think about how we see each other and our own lives. At their surface they might be about monster-hunting or aliens. But thematically they reveal how we make monsters out of that which we don’t understand.
What have been the highlights of your career?
There is nothing much better than performing poetry, backed by musicians, to thousands upon thousands of people at events all over the world. So some of my highlights would be festivals in The Netherlands and in the UK and venues like the Sydney Opera House, the Atheneum and Forum theatres, the Metropolis in Montreal, the Nuyorican and Bowery in New York City and representing Australia at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships in the US.
One of my all-time highlights was Keynote speaking and performing at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Centre
on the STORY GATHERING stage alongside Krista Monson (Cirque Du Soleil Artistic Director) and Linda Woolverton (Disney writer of the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Maleficent).
One of my highlights has also been the amount of literary festivals I have been invited to speak/perform at. Festivals like Somerset Storyfest, Little Scribe, Once Upon A Festival, Storyfest OutWest, Whitsunday Youth Voices, Emerging Writers Festival, Write Around the Murray, Cairns Tropical Writers Festival, Capricorn Coast Writers Festival and many more.
I have been a performance poet for a long time but have also been working on FICTION writing A LOT the last five years and so to get my first publishing contract for URBAN LEGEND HUNTERS with Larrikin House publishers has also been a massive highlight!
However, more significant than all that, would be that I have got to teach the creative process to over 70 000 students throughout the world and seeing so many of them come alive in their creativity. A treasured memory is the bullied autistic boy who had never shared anything in class ever, but stood up after a week of workshops and shared an entire poem about himself and his autism to a stunned class and equally stunned teachers.
Where have your works been published?
Larrikin House, Mindfood Magazine, Going Down Swinging Literary Journal, Acorn Press, UNOH Publications, The Poatina Tree Publishing, Relevant Magazine, Soul-Tread magazine.
What are you passionate about?
I love seeing words and creativity change lives. There is nothing I am more passionate about than this. I have had the honor of coming alongside tens of thousands of young people in their journey and seen them transform simply through the power of naming their own story and creating something out of that story.
Haven’t I seen you before?
You may not have seen me, but here is where you can see/hear me now…
– This live video of my poetry called WELCOME HOME.
– THIS poem in collaboration with an amazing children’s disability crew.
– This TEDX talk.
– This plea to take care of our earth called ONE PLANET
– This is my SPOTIFY for you to listen to.
References of Media on this Page:
https://www.joelmckerrow.com/about
https://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speaker/author/joel-mckerrow/