My friend Mags Webster, who has died aged 61 of pancreatic cancer, was a poet, writer and editor; her work was showcased in journals and anthologies in Australia, Asia and the US.

After moving from the UK to Perth, Western Australia (WA), in 2003, Mags had two books of her poetry published – The Weather of Tongues, which won the Anne Elder award, for the best first book of poetry published in Australia, in 2011, and Nothing to Declare, shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s literary awards 2021.

Born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Mags grew up in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, with her parents, Joyce (nee Anwell) and Eden Webster, an engineer. She had an elder sister, Alison, and two older brothers, Philip and Douglas. We met at primary school at the age of seven and became firm friends. Mags then attended Abbots Bromley school in Rugeley, Staffordshire, followed by Kent University in Canterbury, where she achieved a BA in English and drama.

After graduation in 1985 Mags worked in various PR roles including for the Greater London council, corporation of London and Westminster city council. For her final three years in London she was press officer for Richmond theatre.

In 2003 she moved to Australia with her husband, Robert, whom she had married in 1996; they divorced in 2006.

In Perth, Mags honed her already impressive writing skills through art festivals, and poetry and literary events. Through her work as a writer and researcher at the cultural and arts organisation Form, she developed a deep love and respect for Australian First Nations art and spent much of her time in the Pilbara, in the north of WA, supporting and promoting art and artists from these communities.

She was offered a scholarship to the City University of Hong Kong, where she gained an MFA in creative writing in 2015. In 2020 she completed a PhD in English and creative writing (poetry) at Murdoch University, Perth.

Mags was highly regarded, and touched so many lives, both in the literary and poetry worlds, and the First Nations art world of WA. At the time of her sudden illness, she had been planning the publication of another poetry collection.

She is survived by her partner, Alessandro Cellerini, and by Philip and Douglas. Alison predeceased her.