User:Robynbysea

'''Robyn Rowland AO. Australian poet'''

Previously Professor and inaugural Head of School, Social Inquiry at Deakin University; international researcher into women's health and creator of critiques of reproductive and genetic engineering.

Dr Robyn Rowland AO has published nine books, six of poetry, most recently ''Seasons of doubt & burning. New & Selected Poems'' (2010) representing 40 years of poetry. Her poetry has appeared in Being Human, ed. Neil Astley, (Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2011). Her poetry has won the Catalpa Poetry Prize and overall Writers Prize from the Australian-Irish Heritage Association, the Jean Stone Poetry Prize, and the Writing Spirit Poetry Award, Ireland 2010.

Silence & its tongues (Five Islands Press, 2006) was short-listed for the 2007 ACT Minister’s Judith Wright Poetry Prize. ‘Powerful in its evocation of anger, love and forgiveness’, Michael C. Kuhne wrote in Antipodes: A North American Journal of Australian literature: ‘The poems’ settings range from Australian to Ireland, but the truer landscape is the human heart,  scarred but resilient .’

Third generation Irish-Australian, Robyn has been reading and teaching in Ireland for over 30 years, where she lives part-time in Connemara. She has read her poetry in Portugal, Ireland, UK, USA, Greece, India, Austria, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey & Italy, where, along with Canada, Spain and Japan she has been published.

Robyn is known for her moving readings, and has created two CD’s: Off the tongue and Silver Leaving - Poems & Harp with Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse. Her poetry has been featured often on Irish radio programmes and on Australian National Radio programs PoeticA and The Spirit of Things. Of her readings, BBC Actor John Nettles (Midsomer Murders, Bergerac) said she is ‘among the first rank of poets’, impressed ‘by her use of language, control of verse and wonderful delivery’. Her accent, he said, ‘gives an added piquancy to her delivery’ and the poetry is ‘extraordinarily moving, wonderfully insightful’ with ‘a control of language I haven’t come across since, well, TS Eliot. Like Dylan Thomas and Betjeman, you have to hear her yourself. She is the voice.’

‘Her poems are richly wrought, sensuous, full of passion and restraint. They're luminous and earthy at the same time and open the reader's ear to hear the silence of the lost. In these difficult times, she's the poet I'm looking for: 'an angel she could be, or hope in flight'. Lorna Crozier, Canada

'In this passionate volume, Robyn Rowland’s sensuous imagery is crafted by a fine intellect; the music of her lines vibrates in the memory’. '  Robert Adamson, Australia

Robyn has judged a number of poetry competitions. She has published non-fiction, journalism, and research papers as well as poetry. See www.robynrowland.com

An Honorary Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Robyn was previously Professor of Social Inquiry at Deakin University, retiring in 1996 with breast cancer and burnout. During eighteen years creating critiques of reproductive technology and genetic engineering, her work was used by national and international committees in framing legislation. She addressed the House of Lords, London, on embryo experimentation. She was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for her contribution to higher education and women's health in 1996. She was Deputy Chair of the Board of the Australian Poetry Centre (2007-2008), and is a member of the National Advisory Council for Australia Poetry Ltd. Robyn curates and presents the Poetry & Conversation Series for the Geelong Library Corporation.

Poetry ''Seasons of doubt & burning. New & Selected Poems'', Five Islands Press, Melbourne, in press. 2010 Silence & its tongues, Five Islands Press, 2006. This road, Picaro Press, NSW, 2007 Shadows at the Gate. Five Islands Press, Wollongong, 2004 Fiery Waters. Five Islands Press, Wollongong, 2001 Perverse Serenity. Heinemann, Australia, 1990. Reprinted bySpinifex, Australia, 1992 Filigree in Blood. Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1982

Other Books ''Living Laboratories. Women and reproductive technology''. Pan MacMillan, Australia, 1992; Lime Tree, U.K. and Canada; Indiana University Press, U.S. 1993; and Cedar Press, U.K. 1993 ''Woman Herself. A transdisciplinary perspective on women’s identity''. Oxford university Press, Melbourne, 1988 Women who do and women who don’t, join the women’s movement, editor, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London and New York, 1984

External Links: http://www.robynrowland.info/ www.robynrowland.com www.fiveislandspress.com