Adam Aitken

Adam Aitken is an Australian poet. Born in London in 1960, to an Anglo-Australian father and a Thai mother. He spent some of his childhood with relatives in Thailand, and went to a convent in Malaysia, before coming to Australia in 1968.

Career

He began writing in the mid-1970s and majored in English and Art Film History at the University of Sydney. He has also completed a Master's in Linguistics and a Doctorate in Creative Arts from the Centre for New Writing, University of Technology, Sydney. He was Associate Poetry Editor for HEAT magazine. [ [http://www.asianaustralianstudies.org/resources.html#aa AASRN Resources ] ]

He has published three major collections in Australia and numerous poems in Australian literary journals. He is considered to be a poet of no particular school or trend, postmodern and lyrical at the same time. His influences range from the English Romantic to the French, American and British avante-garde, especially the New York school of poets.

In 1996 his second poetry collection "In One House" was considered one of the best poetry collections of that year. In 2001, his most recent full-length collection "Romeo and Juliet in Subtitles", was shortlisted for the John Bray South Australian Literary Festival Award, and was runner-up for The Age Book of the Year poetry prize. His fourth collection, "Eighth Habitation", will be published by Giramondo Press in 2008. His writing shows a deep interest in contemporary cultural issues, especially issues of identity and cultural hybridity. Adam's work has been translated into French, Swedish, German, Polish, Malay and Mandarin, and is published internationally, most notably in Poetry Magazine.

Books

* "Letter to Marco Polo", Island Press, 1985
* "In One House", HarperCollins/Paper Bark Press, 1996
* "Romeo And Juliet in Subtitles", Brandl & Schlesinger, 2000
* "Eighth Habitation", Giramondo Publishing, 2008 (forthcoming)

References

External links

* [http://web.mac.com/adamaitken Adam Aitken homepage]
* [http://adamaitken.blogspot.com Adam Aitken Cambodia blog]
* [http://www.haikureview.net/node/27 Line and Space Lecture]
* [http://www.redroomcompany.org/poets_adam-aitken.php Interview and reading of 'Costumes']
* [http://australia.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=666 Australia Poetry international Web ]

Persondata
NAME=Aitken, Adam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian poet
DATE OF BIRTH=1960
PLACE OF BIRTH=London, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=