Susan Hawthorne Susan Hawthorne i(A35609 works by)
Born: Established: 1951 Wagga Wagga, Wagga Wagga area, Riverina - Murray area, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Susan Hawthorne is an author of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.

Her poetry collection Cow was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize in the 2012 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and was also a finalist in the 2012 Audre Lorde Lesbian Poetry Prize (USA). Earth’s Breath was shortlisted for the 2010 Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in annual Best Australian Poems anthologies, been broadcast on Poetica and other Radio National programs, and published around the world in literary journals and anthologies.

She has had two international residencies. In 2013, she was Literature Resident at the BR Whiting Studio in Rome, and in 2009, she was Asialink Resident at the University of Madras, Chennai, India.

A former senior editor at Penguin Books, Susan Hawthorne is a co-founder with Renate Klein of Australian feminist publisher Spinifex Press, established in 1991. She gained her PhD in Women's Studies at the University of Melbourne, has taught Philosophy, Education, Literature and Women's Studies at tertiary level, and has been an Academic Associate at Victoria University and Adjunct Professor in Writing at James Cook University.

She has supervised (both PhDs and MAs) and mentored numerous writers in universities and through the Australian Society of Authors. She is Director of Spinifex Press, playing a leading role in independent publishing and eBook publishing, and is the English-language Co-ordinator at the International Alliance of Independent Publishers (based in Paris).

Several of her books have been translated into German and Spanish.

Susan Hawthorne is fascinated by mythology and ancient languages, and has studied Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, and Latin. For many years, she wrote scripts and performed in the Performing Older Women’s Circus and the Women’s Circus. She has written works for solo aerials and poetic text, which she has performed at writers' festivals and conferences in Australia, New Zealand, USA, and India.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Other works not individually indexed include:

    Vortex : The Crisis of Patriarchy (November 2020, Spinifex Press)

Personal Awards

2019-2020 longlisted Adaptable (Queensland Writers Centre)
2015 recipient George Robertson Award
2012 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships Six month residency at the Whiting studio, Rome, 2 August 2013 - 27 January 2014

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Dark Matters Mission Beach : Spinifex Press , 2017 11525008 2017 single work novel

'In a dawn raid, Ekaterina is arrested. She is imprisoned, beaten, kept awake and tortured. She has no idea what has happened to her partner, Mercedes. The uncertainty plagues her. It is as if she has no history. Trying to retain her sense of self in swirling psychic state, she invents stories. And she remembers stories of her mother, her grandmothers and aunts, the rich mythic traditions of Greece. She rearranges them writes poems in her head. Thirty years later, her niece Desi is going through Kate's papers after her death trying to make sense of her aunts life. Susan Hawthorne's dark story uncovers hidden history of organised violence. She traces fear and uncertainty, and finds a narrative of resilience created through the writing of poems. The author asks: how do we pass on stories hidden by shame and resistance to shame? A novel that is both poetic and terrifying.' (Synopsis)

2018 longlisted Davitt Award Best Debut
2018 longlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel
y separately published work icon Cow Melbourne - North : Spinifex Press , 2011 Z1779485 2011 selected work poetry
2012 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
y separately published work icon Earth's Breath North Melbourne : Spinifex Press , 2009 Z1607069 2009 selected work poetry
2010 shortlisted Australian Capital Territory Poetry Prize Judith Wright Award for a Published Collection by an Australian Poet
Last amended 14 Oct 2020 07:59:03
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