Alan Gould (born 22 March 1949) is a contemporary Australian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, essayist and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

Life and career

Gould was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to an

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father and an Icelandic mother. His family lived in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, Germany and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

before arriving in Australia in 1966. He completed a BA at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

and a Diploma of Education at the then

Canberra College of Advanced Education The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

. Having worked as a nuclear physics technician and agricultural labourer, he began writing full-time in 1973, occasionally teaching and writing journalism. Gould's first book of poems, ''Icelandic Solitaries'', was published in 1978. Numerous volumes of poetry and fiction have followed, with his best known novel being ''To the Burning City'' (1991), about the relationship between two brothers, set in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His work has been awarded the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry (1981), the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Best Book of the Year Award (1985), the National Book Council Banjo Award for Fiction (1992), the Royal Blind Society Audio Book of the Year Award (1999), the Philip Hodgins Memorial Award for contribution to Australian Literature (1999), and the Grace Leven Award For Poetry (2006 for ''The Past Completes Me - Selected Poems 1973-2003''). His novel, ''The Schoonermaster's Dance'', was joint winner of the ACT Book of the Year. Later books include a novel, ''The Lakewoman'', from Australian Scholarly Publishing, and a collection of poems, ''Folk Tunes'', from Salt Publishing, both in 2009. ''The Lakewoman'' was shortlisted for the 2010

Prime Minister's Literary Awards The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.picaresque novel The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corru ...

, ''The Poet's Stairwell'',

Black Pepper publishing Black Pepper is an independent Australian publishing house founded by Kevin Pearson and Gail Hannah in 1995 specializing in Australian poetry and fiction. Its innovative titles have won critical acclaim. Publication In 1995 it published the first po ...

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * * * * * ''The Twofold Place'' (1986) * ''Years Found in Likeness'' (1988) * ''Formerlight'' (1992) * ''Momentum'' (1992) * ''Mermaid'' (1996) * ''Dalliance and Scorn'' (1999) * ''A Fold in the Light'' (2001) * ''The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973-2003'' (2005) * ''Folk Tunes'' (2009) * ''Capital'' (2013) ;List of poems

Novels

* ''The Man Who Stayed Below'' (1984) * ''To the Burning City'' (1991) * ''Close Ups'' (1994) * ''The Tazyrik Year'' (1998) * ''The Schoonermaster's Dance'' (2001) Review
/small> * ''The Lakewoman'' (2009) * ''The Seaglass Spiral'' (2012) * ''The Poet's Stairwell'' (2015)

Short fiction

;Collections * ''The Enduring Disguises: Three novellas'' (1988) ;StoriesShort stories unless otherwise noted.

Non-fiction

* ''Three Streets in Search of an Author'' (1993) * ''The Totem Ship'' (1996) * ''Joinery and Scrollwork'' (2013) * *

References

External links

* Synopsis & extract of upcoming novel
A Birdseye View of the Norwegian Sea
another extract from ''The Seaglass Spiral''
More Short Takes
at '' Quadrant''
On poets being paid for their work
Essay with

Geoff Page Geoffrey Donald Page (born 7 July 1940) is an Australian poet, translator, teacher and jazz enthusiast. He has published 22 collections of poetry, as well as prose and verse novels. Poetry and jazz are his driving interests, and he has also writ ...

at Thylazine
‘Ballade for Alan Gould’
Poem by

Alan Wearne Alan Wearne (born 23 July 1948) is an Australian poet. Early life and education Alan Wearne was born on 23 July 1948 and grew up in Melbourne. He studied history at Monash University, where he met the poets Laurie Duggan and John A. Scott. H ...

Marching in the Streets
Gould on protesting against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

(Video & transcript)
Interview with Alan Gould
at The Chimaera. Other poems by Alan Gould and appreciations of his work at the same site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Alan 1949 births 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian novelists Australian essayists Male essayists Australian male novelists Australian National University alumni Australian poets Australian people of Icelandic descent English emigrants to Australia English people of Icelandic descent University of Canberra alumni Writers from the Australian Capital Territory Living people Australian male poets Quadrant (magazine) people 20th-century essayists 21st-century essayists 21st-century Australian male writers