UPDATE:

UPDATE: It is with mixed emotions that we announce that this GoFundMe to support Lionel Fogarty will close on the 21st of July. We’ve received an outpouring of support from many friends, supporters, well-known poets and lovers of poetry. We are immensely thankful for everything you’ve done to help support Lionel. The support that you’ve provided is going directly to funding a reliable mode of transportation to assist with Lionel's health checkups and helping with his ongoing issues in arranging accommodation on Country. If there are any of those who have been waiting to contribute to this campaign, we have opted to keep the fundraising open for the next two weeks to give you a chance to do so.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, living off country is certainly having an effect on Lionel, who recently experienced a near-death experience overseas.

Lionel contracted a covid infection which led to a lung and liver infection, and had to be induced into a coma. Lionel is so grateful to everyone who assisted his recovery. It is difficult to imagine the bravery to cope with a long stay in an overseas hospital and the long flight home alone while ill.

Lionel is currently recovering with family in expensive temporary accommodation in Beaudesert and looking for long-term housing options. Through these challenges, Lionel is passionate about completing several art projects including a documentary and this requires a new injection of funds.

In light of all of this, we are urgently calling for a renewed call for funding to allow Lionel the dignity to finalise his huge artistic contribution and call for justice in Australia in a manner that he deserves.

Alexis Wright was recently inspired to name Lionel Fogarty as the “poet laureate” of Aboriginal literature. A Yoogum and Mununjali poet and activist, Lionel Fogarty has reached international fame for his grassroots and political poetry over the past four decades and continues to produce and publish new works. His career momentum was severely affected by the death of his younger brother during police custody and Lionel devoted his advocacy to exposing Deaths in Custody and calling for justice.

Lionel lives a humble life. And now, as an isolated senior artist living in a regional location, he faces a new threat: homelessness. In less than a month Lionel has to vacate his rented rural property on his beloved Mununjali Country. The rental market is unforgiving, and the cost of finding new housing may well leave Lionel without a roof over his head. This is a tragedy beyond words for a man who has devoted his life to the art of language.

We urge you to help us in supporting Lionel. We are requesting donations to aid him in finding secure accommodation, reliable transportation and the preservation of his extensive archives, and the computer support he needs to continue writing. Lionel is a master of his craft, a beacon of hope and resilience in a world that so often tries to extinguish Indigenous voices. We implore you to join us to help secure a future for a man who has spoken truth to power throughout his lifetime. In the words of the great poet himself: "Poets must continue / like our struggle must continue."

Philip Morrissey

Dashiell Moore

Ali Cobby Eckermann

Administered by the Aboriginal Writers Retreat