Chris Mansell
Encyclopedia
Chris Mansell is an Australian poet
and publisher.
Born in Sydney
, Chris Mansell grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales
and in Lae, Papua New Guinea, later studying economics at the University of Sydney
. She was active in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s as an editor and poet and since the 1980s has lived in regional Australia where she continues to write, perform, publish and edit. In 1978 she and Dane Thwaites began a magazine called Compass Poetry & Prose which published many of the young Australian poets of the time. She closed the magazine in 1987 and soon after, was a member of the collective (which included David Reiter among others) who founded Five Islands Press. She now runs PressPress, a small independent poetry press she founded in 2002.
Like many poets of her generation, Mansell makes her living by performing her work, publishing and teaching writing at various institutions. Although primarily a poet, she has also written a number of plays including Some Sunny Day. Her collection Mortifications & Lies has been described as a 'groundbreaking work' because of its experimentation with form and its overtly political content. Love Poems is less political, a livre composé which takes subtler formal risks. Always interested in experimentation with form, she now also works in digital media. She directed the Shoalhaven Poetry Festival in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
She was winner of the Queensland Premier's Literary Award (poetry) and has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literature Award, and the Banjo Award (Victoria).
Fiction
Children's book
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and publisher.
Born in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Chris Mansell grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and in Lae, Papua New Guinea, later studying economics at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. She was active in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s as an editor and poet and since the 1980s has lived in regional Australia where she continues to write, perform, publish and edit. In 1978 she and Dane Thwaites began a magazine called Compass Poetry & Prose which published many of the young Australian poets of the time. She closed the magazine in 1987 and soon after, was a member of the collective (which included David Reiter among others) who founded Five Islands Press. She now runs PressPress, a small independent poetry press she founded in 2002.
Like many poets of her generation, Mansell makes her living by performing her work, publishing and teaching writing at various institutions. Although primarily a poet, she has also written a number of plays including Some Sunny Day. Her collection Mortifications & Lies has been described as a 'groundbreaking work' because of its experimentation with form and its overtly political content. Love Poems is less political, a livre composé which takes subtler formal risks. Always interested in experimentation with form, she now also works in digital media. She directed the Shoalhaven Poetry Festival in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
She was winner of the Queensland Premier's Literary Award (poetry) and has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literature Award, and the Banjo Award (Victoria).
Works
Poetry- Head, Heart & Stone (Fling Publishers, Melbourne, 1982)
- Redshift/Blueshift (Five Islands Press, Wollongong, 1988)
- Raptors Blue (Audio, with music by Rob Cousins) (Well Sprung Productions, Sydney, 1989)
- Shining Like a Jinx (Amelia, California, USA, 1992)
- Day Easy Sunlight Fine in Hot Collation (Penguin, Melbourne, 1995) ISBN 9780-14-024540-0
- Stalking the Rainbow (PressPress, 2002)
- Fickle Brat (IP Digital, Brisbane, 2002)
- Mortifications & Lies (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2005)) ISBN 0-908244-60-6
- Love poems (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2006)ISBN 9780-14-024540-0
- Letters (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2009)ISBN 9780-908244-70-2
- The view from a beach (PressPress, 2010)ISBN 978-0-9807718-6-2
- Spine Lingo: new and selected poems (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2011) ISBN 978-0-908244-83-6
Fiction
- Schadenvale Road (Interactive Press, Brisbane, 2011) ISBN 9781921479946
Children's book
- Little Wombat (New Holland, Sydney, 1996)
External links
- Home page
- 4 poems at Australian Literature Resources
- blip.tv Samples of experimental digital work
- Interview from Famous Reporter
- http://www.presspress.com.au Mansell's publisher site, PressPress
- Review of Fickle Brat
- Review of Mortifications & Lies
- Review of Love Poems
- Review of Letters in Stylus
- Review of Letters in Cordite
- Review of Spine Lingo