Laurie Duggan

Laurence "Laurie" James Duggan (born 1949) is an Australian poet, editor, and translator.

Life

Laurie Duggan was born in Melbourne and attended Monash University, where his friends included the poets Alan Wearne and John A. Scott. Both he and Scott won the Monash Poetry Prize.^[1] He moved to Sydney in 1972 and became involved with the poetry scene there, in particular with John Tranter, John Forbes, Ken Bolton and Pam Brown. Duggan lectured at Swinburne College ( 1976) and Canberra College of Advanced Education (1983).^[2]

His poetry grows out of contemplation of moments and found texts.^[3] His interest in bricolage started early: while still at Monash he was working on a series of 'Merz poems', short poems about discarded objects, inspired by the work of Kurt Schwitters. His book-length poem The Ash Range (1987) uses diaries, journals of pioneers, and newspaper articles in its construction of a history of Gippsland.

Awards

• 1971 - Poetry Society of Australia Award for the poem East.
• 1976 - Anne Elder Poetry Award for East: Poems 1970-1974.
• 1988 - Victorian Premier's Award for The Ash Range.
• 1989 - Welsey Michel Prize for The Epigrams of Martial.
• 2003 - Age Poetry Book of the Year for Mangroves.
• 2004 - Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for Mangroves.
• 2007 - Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Poetry Collection - Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award for The Passenger.

Works

Poetry

• The Ash Range (Picador, 1987) ISBN 978-0-907562-69-6
• Blue Notes (Picador, 1990) ISBN 978-0-330-27192-9
• Laurie Duggan: Selected Poems 1971-1993 (UQP, 1996) ISBN 978-0-7022-2624-3
• Mangroves (UQP, 2003) ISBN 978-0-7022-3351-7
• Compared to What: Selected Poems 1971-2003 (Shearsman, 2003) ISBN 978-0-907562-61-0
• The Passenger (UQP, 2006) ISBN 978-0-7022-3555-9
• Allotments (Fewer and Fewer Press, 2011)
• The Pursuit of Happiness (Shearsman Books, 2012)
• The Collected Blue Hills (Puncher & Wattmann, 2012)
• East & Under the Weather (Puncher & Wattmann, 2014)

Non-fiction

• Ghost Nation:Imagined Space and Aust Visual Culture 1901-1939 (UQP, 2001) ISBN 978-0-7022-3189-6

Translations

• The Epigrams of Martial (Pressed Wafer, 2010) ISBN 978-0-9824100-7-3

Notes

1. ↑ Peninsula Online, Latest Issue, Peninsula Campus
2. ↑ Australian Poets and their Works, by William Wilde, Oxford University Press, 1996.
3. ↑ David McCooey's chapter 'Contemporary Poetry: Across Party Lines' in The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature, Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-521-65843-0, page 165

External links

• Laurie Duggan's blog
• Poems + Essays etc at Austlit
• Laurie Duggan in Auckland at New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre
• Ten poems at Jacket Magazine
• Thirty pieces at Great Works
• Ornithology at Otis Rush
• In Dialogue with Laurie Duggan by David McCooey
• Review of Allotments by Laurie Duggan in Rochford Street Review]]
• Review of The Pursuit of Happiness by Laurie Duggan in Rochford Street Review]]
• Review of The Collected Blue Hills by Laurie Duggan in Rochford Street Review]]