The Red Dirt Poetry Festival will return to Alice Springs, bringing together poets from across the Northern Territory and around Australia for a program centred on spoken word in a desert setting, organisers say.

Festival director Laurie May said the festival was expanding and would feature performances and open-mic events aimed at audiences of all experience levels, along with workshops, installations and panel discussions, with a mix of local, interstate and international artists.

“This year we have decided to go even bigger with our ambitions to bring you a festival that continues to centre poetry and multi-arts while affirming that Central Australia is truly the home of Australian poetry,” Ms May said.

She said opening night would combine poetry and science in collaboration with the Chilean International Festival of Poetry and Science, featuring poets from Australia and Chile under the stars at White Gums, on the outskirts of Alice Springs.

Ms May said the full lineup would be announced on July 15, with early-bird tickets available from June 1. The festival runs from August 20 to 23.

More information is available at the Red Dirt Poetry Festival website.