John Mateer

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John Mateer (born 1971) is a South African-born Australian poet and author.

He was born in Roodepoort, South Africa in 1971, and grew up on the outskirts of Johannesburg. He spent some of his childhood in Canada, before returning to South Africa in 1979. In 1989 he moved to Western Australia with his family. Since 1998 he has been dividing his time between Melbourne and Perth.

Mateer has published several collections of poems. Barefoot Speech won the 2001 C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry and Loanwords was shortlisted for the 2002 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. He was also a recipient of the Centenary Medal for his contributions to Australian literature.

Mateer was granted a fellowship to travel to Indonesia, and later published a non-fiction travelogue entitled Semar's Cave: an Indonesian Journal.

[edit] Works

Poetry

  • Anachronism
  • Barefoot Speech
  • Burning Swans
  • Loanwords
  • The Ancient Capital of Images

Travel

  • Semar's Cave: an Indonesian Journal