Chris Mansell (born 1953) is an Australian

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 writte ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. Born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Chris Mansell grew up on the Central Coast of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and in

Lae, Papua New Guinea Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

, later studying economics at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. She was active in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s as an editor and poet and since the 1980s has lived on the south coast of NSW, 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 has made her living by performing her work, publishing and teaching writing at various institutions. 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. ''Spine Lingo: new and selected poems'' appeared with Kardoorair in 2011. Always interested in experimentation with form, she now also works in digital media and artist editions which are experimental in physical form as well as content. On this front, her newest works (''Stung'' and ''Stung More'') comprise poems in the 'quad' form which combines strict restrictions with uninhibited content. The quads definitive collection is in ''101 Quads''.(Chris Mansell website) Accessed: 14 December 2014. She directed the Shoalhaven Poetry Festival in 2002, 2003 and 2005. She was winner of the

Queensland Premier's Literary Award The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...

(poetry) and has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literature Award, and the Banjo Award (Victoria). She won the Meanjin Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize in 2014.

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) * ''Stalking the Rainbow'' (PressPress, 2002) * ''Fickle Brat'' (IP Digital, Brisbane, 2002) * ''Mortifications & Lies'' (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2005) * ''Love poems'' (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2006) * ''Letters'' (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2009) * ''The view from a beach'' (PressPress, 2010) * ''Spine Lingo: new and selected poems'' (Kardoorair Press, Armidale, 2011) * ''Love Cuts'' with Richard Tipping (Well Sprung Productions, 2013) * ''Seven Stations''(Well Sprung Productions, 2013) and as CD wit
Andrew Batt-Rawden
(composer)(Hospital Hill, 2013) * ''101 Quads'' (Puncher & Wattmann/Thorny Devil Press, 2020) * artist books including ''Aves'', ''the quiet book'', ''Stung'' and ''Stung More''. Fiction * ''Schadenvale Road'' (Interactive Press, Brisbane, 2011) Children's book * ''Little Wombat'' (New Holland, Sydney, 1996)

Works

References

External links