THE SHORT VERSION

There’s nothing that breaks Rebecca M. Newman’s heart more than readers carefully storing poetry books on a high shelf, hidden away like precious keepsakes. She loves a well-thumbed poetry book with dog-eared pages. Rebecca writes 21st century poems for 21st century kids, except when she’s writing short short stories for grown-ups. She is also the co-editor of two poetry anthologies for children: Right Way Down and Other Poems and If I Could Eat the Stars and Other Poems, both published by Fremantle Press. You’ll find Rebecca’s work in Australian and international anthologies, magazines and popping out of the Short Story Station in Perth’s Raine Square. When she’s not writing or editing, Rebecca messes about with collage and plays fiddle tunes on an old violin.

THE MEDIUM VERSION

Rebecca M. Newman writes poetry and playscripts for kids, and flash fiction for grown-ups. She also edits anthologies of poetry for kids.

Her latest anthologies are Right Way Down and Other Poems and If I Could Eat the Stars and Other Poems, both published by Fremantle Press, co-edited with Sally Murphy and illustrated by Briony Stewart.

Rebecca has also been a contributor to Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: Magical Poems Chosen by Paul Cookson, illustrated by Eilidh Muldoon, published by Bloomsbury; Twice Not Shy, Three Can Keep a Secret and Ourselves, all published by Night Parrot Press; the NSW Education Department’s The School Magazine; Teaching Poetry for Pleasure and Purpose by Sally Murphy, published by Primary English Teachers Association of Australia; and the Raine Square Short Story Dispenser in Perth city, Western Australia. Her poem ‘This is the child’ was set to music and performed as a choral work.

Rebecca has been a judge for the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards and the Spencil Writers’ Prize. She has worked in a primary school library, and for three years she ran a choral speaking club (poetry for performance in a group) of primary school students, for performances in festivals and school assemblies.

THE LONGER VERSION

Hi, I’m Rebecca. I write poetry and playscripts for kids and flash fiction for grown-ups.

I always dreamed of being a writer when I grew up. When I was 8, created my first book by stapling together perforated dot-matrix paper with the holes down the sides, handwriting the story and illustrating with crayons. It was a story about a garden that grew upside down, with flowers underground and roots in the air. (My storytelling was heavily influenced by Roger Hargreaves.) Soon afterwards I wrote my first rhyming poem about a bushfire and spent weeks on my bedroom floor putting together a playscript based on The Magic Faraway Tree, casting my primary school classmates in all the roles. Unfortunately we never performed the play and (fortunately?) that particular playscript is now lost to antiquity.

After highschool, I studied English Literature at university and later returned to uni to study a Certificate of Editing and Publishing. This led me to start Alphabet Soup, a magazine that provided a forum for kids’ own work alongside the work of adults. The magazine has now closed but lives on as a website showcasing book reviews written by children and interviews with Australian authors and illustrators.

My passion is poetry for children, and I believe it’s important for Australian kids to have access to poetry by writers who live and write in the places familiar to them. In 2023, I teamed up with Sally Murphy (co-editor) and Briony Stewart (illustrator) to put together an anthology with writing by 21st century Western Australian poets. This became Right Way Down and Other Poems, published in 2024 with Fremantle Press. A companion anthology followed in 2026: If I Could Eat the Stars and Other Poems. My poetry, short stories and playscripts have been published in Australia and internationally in anthologies and magazines.  

I’m a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Australia West chapter. I’m also a member of the Australian Society of Authors and the Children’s Book Council of Australia.