Shey Marque

Summary

Shey Marque is a poet and former medical scientist. She was the inaugural winner of the QLD Poetry Festival Emerging Poet Award in 2018. Her first full-length poetry collection, Keeper of the Ritual (UWAP 2019), was shortlisted for the Noel Rowe Poetry Award. Her second collection, The Hum Hearers (UWAP 2025), was shortlisted for the Dorothy Hewett Award.

Biography

Shey Marque is an award-winning Poet and short story writer.
A current Board member of Writing WA, she has experience in the recent restructuring of the organisation, the review of the Rules of the Association and governance updates.

She was a former Chair of WA Poets Inc, and Board Secretary and Coordinator of the KSP Writers Centre.

Shey has written three poetry collections and is currently working on her fourth. Keeper of the Ritual (UWAP 2019), was shortlisted for the Noel Rowe Award 2018, and The Hum Hearers (UWAP 2025) was shortlisted for the Dorothy Hewett Award.

Her poetry is widely published in most major national literary journals, has twice won the KSP Poetry Prize, Poetry d’Amour Poetry Prize, the Blue Nib Chapbook Prize (Dublin), and an Emerging Poet Award (QLD Poetry Festival), and placed and shortlisted for numerous others including the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize, Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize, Ros Spencer Poetry Prize and the Tom Collins Poetry Prize.

Previously she has worked as a research scientist and clinical haematology scientist, and holds a BAppSc MLS (Curtin), a PhD in Molecular Pathology (UWA), and MA Writing (Swinburne).

Relevant qualifications

MA Writing, Swinburne University, Melbourne
PhD Pathology, UWA
BAppSc(Hons) Medical Science, Curtin University

Recent experience

Festival Performances: QLD Poetry Festival 2018; Perth Poetry Festival 2019; Perth Writers Festival 2023; York Writers Festival 2024.

Coordinator: The Patient Poet Program (formerly Hospital Poets (Australia) Program), KSP Foundation Inc, 2018- present

Workshop Facilitator: Writing Under the Influence Workshop, Perth Poetry Festival, August 2019; Poetry Workshop Series for OOTA in 2022; Workshops 'The Patient Poet' for Community Arts Network 2023

Judge: Shire of Mundaring Poetry Competition 2019; KSP 50th Anniversary Poetry Award 2019; Poetry d'Amour Poetry Competition 2024