NLA image of person
Kate Llewellyn Kate Llewellyn i(A25617 works by) (birth name: Kathleen Jill Brinkworth) (a.k.a. Katherine Jill Sky Llewellyn)
Born: Established: 1936 Tumby Bay, Tumby Bay area, Southern Eyre Peninsula, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, ;
Gender: Female
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Kate Llewellyn grew up at Tumby Bay on Eyre Peninsula, later moving to Adelaide where she trained and worked as a registered nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (graduating in 1958). She also owned and directed two art galleries in Adelaide (1956-1972). Llewellyn enrolled in 1970 at the University of Adelaide, graduating with a BA in history and classics in 1977. She worked on the Unley Planning Study 1978, and in the Women's Advisory Unit of the Premier's Department 1979. Also in 1979, she spent two months in Paris and London.

It was during her undergraduate years that Llewellyn began writing. She won the Bundey Prize for English Verse in 1975. Her first collection, Just a Minute, was published in Sisters Poets 1 (1979), and her first book of poetry, Trader Kate and the Elephants (1982) won the Ann Elder Award. In 1981 she was National Secretary of the Poets' Union. She has read at Friendly Street, Writers' Week, SA Poets' Union readings, schools, colleges and universities. Her poems have been broadcast on Writers' Radio' (5UV).

In 1983 Llewellyn moved to Sydney, and in 1985 moved to Leura, in the Blue Mountains for a time. There she wrote her Blue Mountains trilogy, The Waterlily, Dear You and The Mountain. Llewellyn has also published international travel diaries and a book of essays (The Floral Mother). Divorced in 1972, she has a son Hugh and a daughter Caro who is also an author.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • For many years Llewellyn nominated the year 1940 as her date of birth. However, in official documents and in a document supplied by Llewellyn to AustLit in 1995, the year is recorded as 1936.

Affiliation Notes

  • Born in SA but moved elsewhere

Personal Awards

2024 recipient Order of Australia Member of the Order of Australia (AM) For significant service to literature as an author and poet.
2005 Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships Literature Board Fellowship Non-Fiction; Poetry An award of $80,000 to write an autobiography and a book of poems about Australian explorers.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Playing with Water Pymble : HarperCollins Australia , 2005 Z1185854 2005 single work diary
2006 winner Galley Club of Sydney Awards for Excellence in Publishing and Print Australian-Printed Book of the Year
y separately published work icon Trader Kate and the Elephants Unley : Friendly Street Poets , 1982 Z132641 1982 selected work poetry
1982 joint winner Anne Elder Award
y separately published work icon Teeth and Other Verses Adelaide : University of Adelaide , 1975 (Manuscript version)x401480 Z1214561 1975 selected work poetry
1975 winner Bundey Prize for English Verse

Known archival holdings

University of New South Wales Australian Defence Force Academy Australian Defence Force Academy Library (ACT)
Last amended 30 Jun 2014 11:20:19
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X