Dorothy Porter

For other people named Dorothy Porter, see Dorothy Porter (disambiguation).

Dorothy Porter
Born	Dorothy Featherstone Porter 26 March 1954(1954-03-26) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	10 December 2008(2008-12-10) (aged 54) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	Australian
Education	Queenwood School for Girls
Alma mater	University of Sydney

Dorothy Featherstone Porter (26 March 1954 – 10 December 2008) was an Australian poet.

Early life

Porter was born in Sydney. Her father was barrister Chester Porter and her mother, Jean, was a high school chemistry teacher. Porter attended the Queenwood School for Girls. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English and History.^[1]

Works and awards

Porter's awards include The Age Book of the Year for poetry, the National Book Council Award for The Monkey's Mask and the FAW Christopher Brennan Award for poetry. Two of her verse novels were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award: What a Piece of Work in 2000 and Wild Surmise in 2003. In 2000, the film The Monkey's Mask was made of her verse novel of the same name. In 2005 her libretto, The Eternity Man, co-written with composer Jonathan Mills, was performed at the Sydney Festival.^[2]

Porter's most recent publication, her fifth verse novel, was El Dorado, about a serial child killer. The book was nominated for several awards including the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Award in 2007 and for Best Fiction in the Ned Kelly Awards.^[3]

Since her death, The Bee Hut (2009) has been published posthumously, as has her final completed work, an essay on literary criticism and emotions and literature entitled On Passion.

Porter, who found many outlets for writing including fiction for young adults and libretti for chamber opera, was working on a rock opera called January with Tim Finn at the time of her death.^[3]

Personal life

Porter was an open lesbian^[4] and in 1993 moved to Melbourne to be with her partner and fellow writer, Andrea Goldsmith. The couple were coincidentally both shortlisted in the 2003 Miles Franklin Award for literature.^[3] In 2009, Porter was posthumously recognised by the website Samesame.com.au as one of the most influential gay and lesbian Australians.^[5]

Porter was a self-described pagan, committed to pagan principles of courage, stoicism and commitment to the earth and beauty.

Death

Porter had been suffering from breast cancer for four years before her death, but "many thought she was winning the battle," according to journalist Matt Buchanan.^[3] In the last three weeks of her life she became very sick and was admitted to hospital, where she was in intensive care for the final ten days. She died aged 54 on 10 December 2008.^[3]

On 21 February 2010, actress Cate Blanchett read excerpts from Porter's posthumously published short work on literary criticism and emotions in literature, On Passion at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne.^[6]

Bibliography

Poetry collections Little Hoodlum (1975) Bison (1979) The Night Parrot (1984) Driving too Fast (1989) Crete (1996) Other Worlds: Poems 1997–2001 (2001) Poems January–August 2004 (2004) The Bee Hut (2009, Posthumous) "Love Poems" (2010, Posthumous) Libretti (with composer Jonathan Mills) The Ghost Wife (2000) The Eternity Man (2005)

Verse novels Akhenaten (1991) The Monkey's Mask (1994) What a Piece of Work (1999) Wild Surmise (2002) El Dorado (2007) Fiction for young adults Rookwood (1991) The Witch Number (1993) Lyrics Before Time Could Change Us (2005), music by Paul Grabowsky, performed by the Paul Grabowsky/Katie Noonan Quintet Literary Criticism On Passion (2010, posthumous)

References

1. ^ AustLit, the Australian Literature Resource.
2. ^ McCallum, Peter: Review: The Eternity Man, The Age, 24 January 2005.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Dorothy Porter dies" by Matthew Buchanan, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 December 2008
4. ^ "Porter dead at 54", Sydney Star Observer, 10 December 2008, http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2008/12/10/porter-dead-at-54/3210, retrieved 19 December 2008 
5. ^ "25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians 2009" at Samesame.com.au
6. ^ "Blanchett delivers Porter's 'Passion'" by Frances Atkinson, The Age, 22 February 2010

External links

• Australian Literature Resources website, contains information on many Australian writers, including Porter
• Dorothy Porter at the Poetry International website
• Australian poet Dorothy Porter dies aged 54
• Dorothy Porter wikispaces includes many references and collection of resources
• Vale Dorothy Porter, article and interview in Cordite Poetry Review, by poet Peter Minter

Persondata
Name	Porter, Dorothy
Alternative names	Porter, Dorothy Featherstone
Short description	Australian poet
Date of birth	26 March 1954
Place of birth	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death	10 December 2008
Place of death	Melbourne, Australia