lives in Sydney. He is the author of seven collections of poetry, most recently Ghostspeaking (2016), Towns in the Great Desert (2013) and Apocrypha (2009) which won the Queensland Premiers Award in 2010. Among his other awards are the NSW Premiers Award (1995) for Coming home from the world and the South Australian Premiers Award (1998) for The Blue Cloud of Crying. As a translator of French and Spanish poetry he has had four books published, including The Trees (2005) by Venezuelan Eugenio Montejo and Anima (2011) by Cuban poet José Kozer. In 2013 he received the NSW Premiers Award for translation. He has presented his poetry at Festivals in France, Québec, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela and Macedonia. His poetry has been translated into French, Spanish, Chinese and Swedish. He is currently completing a Doctorate of Creative Arts at the University of Western Sydney.
Research Practice
I write poetry that addresses a range of concerns from the personal to the political. I have a particular interest in heteronymous poetry, broadly in the tradition of Fernando Pessoa but equally influenced by Edmond Jabès and a range of Latin American writers. So far I have published two books of heteronymous poetry – Apocrypha (2009) and Ghostspeaking (2016). Both of these are long books working on the boundaries of fiction and poetry.
My own poetry is also in dialogue with my work as a translator, particularly of French and Latin American poetry. Among the poets I have translated are José Kozer, Eugenio Montejo, Marosa di Giorgio, Olga Orozco, Gastón Baqueiro, Jorge Palma and Samuel Trigueros from Latin America and Pierre Reverdy, René Char and Yves Bonnefoy from France. I also have a special interest in Surrealist poetry, especially Max Jacob and Henri Michaux.
My doctorate concerns the interplay between the tradition of heteronymous poetry and the translation of poetry. I see both activities as attempts to open a poetic community to a broader engagement with world poetry while they also question the notion of a single poetic voice.
Publications