Cirrus@Austlit

Tim Thorne, poet, critic, teacher of modern languages, journalist, editor and publisher, was born in Launceston and educated at the University of Tasmania. He lived in Sydney for some time (1967-68) where he became associated with the new poetry movement and the journal Poetry Magazine (later New Poetry). In 1971-72, after winning a writing scholarship, he studied at Stanford University in California. In Tasmania, Thorne became greatly involved in the development of a regional literature there, and he founded - and for 17 years directed - the Tasmanian Poetry Festival, which started the Launceston Poetry Cup.

Thorne's poems have been widely anthologised, and he has published a number of collections of his own poetry and edited other collections and anthologies, particularly of Tasmanian poetry. He has given numerous poetry readings in Australia and abroad, and has organised workshops on poetry and writing classes, often within the Tasmanian community, but also on the mainland and in the UK. He has also written for various journals and newspapers, including a regular column on contemporary affairs for the Hobart Mercury.

Awards and prizes he has received include: Stanford Writing Scholarship (1971); New Poetry Award (1973); Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship for poetry (1978); Gleebooks Poetry Sprint (1995); grants and fellowships from the Australia Council (1975, 1977 - 1979) and from Arts Tasmania (1986 and 1992); the Grand Archer Poetry Mug (Shoalhaven Poetry Festival, 2002); and the William Baylebridge Memorial Prize for his A Letter to Egon Kisch (2007).