Tug Dumbly is the pen and stage name of Geoff Forrester, a Nowra-born poet and performer who has lived in Sydney for decades. He has worked extensively in radio, venues and schools, and founded a couple of seminal poetry nights in Sydney.
He has performed his work as resident poet on ABC radio (Triple J, ABC 702), and released two spoken-word CDs through the ABC. His awards include the Banjo Paterson Prize for Comic Verse (twice), and Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup (thrice). His poems have appeared in many
publications and he has been shortlisted several times for major awards. In 2020 he won the Borranga Poetry Prize. His first poetry collection, Son Songs, came out in 2018.
Hear Tug during the Friday night Festival Launch.