Cirrus@Austlit

'Nearly thirty years after her death, Gwen Harwood remains one of Australia’s most significant and distinctive poets. Author of more than 420 poems and libretti, Harwood is renowned for her brilliance and trickery, her technical virtuosity, her passions and furies. In her early career, through a number of mostly male pseudonyms, she was able to give voice to feminist issues at a time when women struggled for visibility and recognition. By the end of her life, Gwen Harwood was a public figure in her own right and a unique, powerful presence in Australian literary circles. However, very little was known about her as a person, nor the experiences that gave rise to her extraordinary poems.' (Introduction)