Bio

Candy Royalle has performed alongside many of the greats including Ursula Rucker (who said “Candy Royalle is all at once fragile, powerful, raw, sensitive, beautiful, unflinching and honest. She, her spirit and her work, will change you”) Shane Koyczan, Sarah Kay, Phil Kay, Rives, Anis Mojgani and Holly McNish to name a few. A festival curator once described Royalle as “an act you remember for years” and the Austin International Poetry Festival Chair stated Candy had “…changed the face of poetry in Austin, forever”. Few who see her can forget her intensity, her combustible blend of intellect, imagination and heart.

Candy Royalle has expanded across artistic boundaries engaging in mixed art forms and exploring those forms with poetry. Previous collaborative works have seen her teaming up with photographers, film makers, visual artists and musicians. Her newest project “Frida People” is a new album and show with musical trio Sloppy Joe and surreal showgirl Betty Grumble. Layering her rhythmic words and hypnotic voice with the unique sounds of funk, jazz and soul that Sloppy Joe create, the album was launched at the National Folk Festival in Canberra, April 2014 to critical acclaim with festival goers declaring it “colour in a world of banality”. Their previous project “Stories by Starlight” was nominated for the Sydney Fringe Music Award and received rave reviews as part of many arts festivals. Her one-woman show ‘Love Spectacular’ sold-out at Sydney’s first Fringe Festival where it was nominated for the “Show-stopping Individual Performance Award” and continued to garner excellent reviews at many other festivals. Royalle also bends genres by integrating sound effects using FX and loop pedals in her performances. A film series entitled TWELVE which brings together the work of film maker Patch Sinclair and composer Ashley Blackmore in response to Candy Royalle’s poetry was recently completed. Their first film “And then there were two” was awarded the “Highly Commended” honour from the Queensland Poetry Film Festival in 2013. Their current collection can be seen here: https://candyroyalle.com/twelve-2/.

Candy Royalle has recently toured parts of the US and over the years has performed in the UK and parts of Europe with another tour to the US, UK and Europe just announced for 2015. In Australia, Royalle is a festival veteran – from the Woodford Folk Festival to the Tasmanian Poetry Festival, the Sydney Writers Festival to the Adelaide Fringe Festival to name just a small few.

In addition to her performances, Royalle is increasingly being recognised by Australia’s literary establishment. She has appeared alongside renowned writers such as David Malouf at the Australian Poetry Festival and has performed and taken part in panel discussions at the iconic Sydney’s Writers Festival. She recently helped to launch the anthology “Australian Love Poems” alongside Mark Tredinnick at both the Byron Bay Writers Festival and the Sydney launch at Gleebooks. She has featured on many panel discussions and has been invited to talk at numerous events. She also sits on the Advisory Council for Australian Poetry Limited.

Recent accolades include being awarded the 2014 Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship for poetry, a highly commended award for the Queensland Poetry Filmakers Challenge, the “2012 World Performance Poetry Cup” as well as the “AIPF Excellence in Poetry Award” in both 2012 and 2013. She has won numerous competitions and has been nominated and highly commended for a number of awards. Her work has been published and featured both in publications and online including Overland, Australian Love Poems, RN’s Poetica, AIPF’s Diversity anthology and many more.

Royalle’s work has been covered in many major media outlets including the ABC, Fairfax, News Limited, CNN and a host of local and street press.