Seventeen of the 18 events are free to attend – most on the University of Canberra (UC) campus in Bruce, with others at city centre locations, Manning Clark House and the Belconnen Arts Centre. The festival is also running poetry workshops in schools.

"For the two weeks of the festival, poetry's movements will be a highly visible part of university and city life," says festival director Paul Munden.

Poetry on the Move features a huge range of top-quality poetry. It hosts two international poets-in-residence, T.S. Eliot prizewinner Philip Gross (Britain) and former Utah poet laureate and Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute director Katharine Coles (US). Also appearing will be Canberra's own poet, novelist and acclaimed hip-hop artist Omar Musa; former New Zealand poet laureate Elizabeth Smither; and Montreal Prize-winner Mark Tredinnick. The program also features a large number of top interstate and local poets.

At the heart of the festival is the announcement of the winner of this year's $15,000 UC Vice Chancellor's International Poetry Prize, one of the most valuable poetry prizes in the world.

At the same time, the winners of the inaugural Young Poets Awards will be announced. The awards are open to all year 11 and year 12 students attending a college in the ACT or NSW, and aim to encourage young poets and to reward imaginative, well-crafted poems with a distinctive voice.

"We believe it will be of significant impact to young people to see their work honoured on the same stage as professional poets," Munden says.

According to Munden, a key focus of the festival is the work that poets do 'off the page' – not only in giving readings, but in collaboration with other artists – and technicians.

"We'd like poetry to be seen as an enriching part of all walks of life," he says.

This focus is reflected in the programming. Both poets-in-residence will give talks about collaborating across art forms and disciplines, including with visual artists and computer scientists. Festival-goers can get into some genre-crossing of their own in a full day Poetry and Art workshop at Belconnen Arts Centre with book artist Caren Florance and poet and artist Sarah Rice. There will also be poetry films showing on screens in public areas at UC.

The festival offers plenty of chances to get practical with poetry. Both poets-in-residence will be holding masterclasses, and festival-goers can also try their hands at translation in a workshop led by Subhash Jaireth, or attend a masterclass with Tredinnick. They can even read their own work at the open mic session (Zierholz, 5pm, Thursday 10 September).

Other program highlights include Philip Gross in Conversation with Mark Tredinnick, and some fascinating poetry-IT talks: Coles will speak about the Poemage computer program, which maps the flow of sound in a poem, while Ross Gibson will cover Dynamic Poetry for the Electronic Screen.

The festival includes two sets of 'cafe readings' featuring the work of famous poets such as Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, Francis Webb, and Banjo Paterson. All the poets on the program will also read from their own work during the festival, with readings taking place at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Manning Clark House, and the Gods Cafe on the ANU campus, as well as at UC. A number of new poetry books will be launched as well.

Poetry on the Move culminates in a two-day symposium on September 9-10, including keynote addresses by the international guests, academic papers on current poetry research, and more readings. Then of course there are the post-symposium drinks (both days) and the festival closing lunch on September 11 (bookings essential).

Poetry on the Move is hosted by the International Poetry Studies Institute in UC's Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, Faculty of Arts and Design. The festival has been funded by UC's deputy vice-chancellor for research, Professor Frances Shannon.

CCCR's director, Jen Webb, says the festival's brief is "to raise the profile of poetry in building understanding of how we read, feel and think our way into the world". The festival is also tasked with exploring "how creative practices can contribute to current and future community wellbeing".

Melinda Smith is the poetry editor of The Canberra Times.

* Poetry on the Move. September 1-11, 2015. Full program at http://ipsi.org.au/events. Most events on UC campus (map at http://www.canberra.edu.au/maps/campus-map). Most sessions free but numbers limited for some. Please book for all events using the specific Eventbrite pages at http://ipsi.org.au