David McCooey (born 1967 in

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

), poet, critic, musician, and academic. He is Personal Chair in Literary Studies and Professional & Creative Writing at

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Early life and education

David McCooey was born in London in 1967. He moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, with his family in 1970. He studied for a BA (hons) at

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

(1985–1988), and completed his doctorate at

Sydney University 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 six ...

(1990–1993).

Career

McCooey is Personal Chair in Literary Studies and Professional & Creative Writing at

and regularly writes reviews for ''Australian Book Review'' and ''The Age''. He has been the recipient of a number of ARC (Australian Research Council) awards. From 2004 to 2006 he was associate editor of ''Space: New Writing'' and in 2013 he was inaugural poetry editor of ''Australian Book Review''. McCooey, described by

Nicholas Birns Nicholas Birns is a scholar of literature, including fantasy and Australian literature. As a Tolkien scholar he has written on a variety of topics including The Scouring of the Shire and Tolkien's biblical sources. His analysis of the writings of A ...

in ''The Australian'' as "one of the pioneers of Australian studies of life writing", is the author of a key critical work in Australian autobiography, ''Artful Histories: Modern Australian Autobiography'', which was published by Cambridge University Press in 1996, and re-published in 2009. ''Artful Histories'' won a NSW Premier's Literary Award in 1996, and was shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award for Best Australian Book in 1997. McCooey's first poetry collection, ''Blister Pack'' (Salt Publishing), won the 2006 Mary Gilmore Award, and was shortlisted for four other major awards. McCooey is the Deputy General Editor of the ''Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature'' (Allen & Unwin, published internationally by Norton as ''The Literature of Australia''), which won the "Special Award" in the 2010 NSW Premier's Literary Awards and a 2010 Australian Educational Publishing Award. McCooey's latest book of poetry ''Outside'' (Salt Publishing) was published in 2011, and in 2012 it was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards and was a finalist for the Melbourne Prize for Literature's "Best Writing" award. In her review of ''Outside'' in ''The Australian'', Fiona Wright commented on the collection's "remarkable power to draw the reader in" and its "shifting and subtle exploration of creativity". McCooey's poetry has appeared widely in Australian journals, newspapers, and anthologies, including ''The Best Australian Poems'' annual anthology in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 (the final year of the series). His "poetry soundtracks" (original poetry, music, and sound design) have appeared in various CD issues of literary journals, and have been broadcast on ABC Radio National, 3RRR and elsewhere. An album of poetry soundtracks, ''Outside Broadcast'', was released as a digital download in 2013. His third full-length collection of poetry, ''Star Struck'' was published by UWA Publishing in 2016. Writing in ''The Australian'', Geoff Page described the collection as "disturbingly good and arguably his best so far", concluding that it is an example of "contemporary Australian poetry at its engaging best". ''The Book of Falling'', McCooey's fourth full-length collection of poetry, was published in 2023 by Upswell. In addition to lyric poetry, the collection includes three "photo poems", featuring found photographs and photographs by McCooey. A photograph by McCooey is also used for the book's cover art. John Kinsella, writing in ''The Saturday Paper'' described "McCooey's gift" as his "control of tone", noting "an uncanny sense of that dynamic of distance and intimacy in which McCooey is so proficient". McCooey is married to the writer and academic

Maria Takolander Maria Takolander, born in Melbourne in 1973, is an Australian writer of Finnish heritage. Biography Takolander graduated from Deakin University in 2003 with a PhD on magical realism. Since then she has continued to produce scholarly journal art ...

Awards and nominations

* 2012 Finalist, Melbourne Prize for Literature’s "Best Writing Award" (triennial, all genres) for ''Outside'' * 2012 Short-listed, Queensland Literary Awards (Poetry) for ''Outside'' * 2010

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...

for the ''Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature'' * 2010 Winner, The Australian Educational Publishing Awards, Tertiary (Wholly Australian) Scholarly Reference for the ''Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature'' * 2010 Short-listed,

Australian Book Industry Awards, General Non-Fiction Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

for the ''Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature'' * 2006 Winner, Mary Gilmore Award for the best first book of poetry in the preceding two calendar years for ''Blister Pack'' * 2006 Finalist,

The Melbourne Prize for Literature (New Writing Award) ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

(triennial, all genres) for ''Blister Pack'' * 2005 Short-listed,

for ''Blister Pack'' * 2005 Short-listed,

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

for ''Blister Pack'' * 2005 Short-listed, ''The Age'' Book of the Year Award for ''Blister Pack'' * 1997 Short-listed,

Colin Roderick Award for Best Australian Book Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse * Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...

for ''Artful Histories: Modern Australian Autobiography'' * 1996 Winner,

, Gleebooks Prize for Critical Writing for ''Artful Histories: Modern Australian Autobiography''

Publications

Poetry

* ''The Book of Falling'' (2023) * ''Star Struck'' (2016) * ''Outside ''(2011) * ''Graphic'' (2010) * ''Blister Pack ''(2005)

Audio

* ''The Apartment'' (with

Paul Hetherington Paul Hetherington (born 6 March 1958) is an Australian poet and academic, who also worked for 19 years at the National Library of Australia. He is Professor of Writing at the University of Canberra where he heads the university's Internationa ...

, 2018) * ''The Double'' (2017) * ''Outside Broadcast'' (2013)https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/outside-broadcast/id682660501

Anthology

As Deputy General Editor: ''Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature'' (2009), published internationally as ''The Literature of Australia'' (2009)

Literary criticism

''Artful Histories: Modern Australian Autobiography'' (1996)

Professional associations

* American Association of Australian Literary Studies * Antipodes: The North American Journal of Australian Literature Life Writing *

Association for the Study of Australian Literature The Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) is an Australian organisation which promotes the creation and study of Australian literature and literary culture especially through the interaction of Australian writers with teacher ...

References

Judges' Report, 2006 Mary Gilmore Award
Retrieved (27 August 2007)

1999 Deakin University Research Report (Retrieved 27 August 2007)

External links

Official website

Contemporary Histories Research Group Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCooey, David 1967 births Australian poets Living people University of Western Australia alumni University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of Deakin University