Jennifer Maiden (born 1949) 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 ...

. She was born in

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

, and has had 36 books published: 28 poetry collections, 6 novels and 2 nonfiction works. Her current publishers are Quemar Press in Australia and

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

in the UK. She began writing professionally in the late 1960s and has been active in Sydney's literary scene since then. She took a BA at Macquarie University in the early 1970s. She has one daughter, Katharine Margot Toohey. Aside from writing, Jennifer Maiden runs writers workshops with a variety of literary, community and educational organizations and has devised and co-written (with Margaret Cunningham Bennett, who was then the director of the New South Wales Torture and Trauma Rehabilitation Service) a manual of questions to facilitate writing by Torture and Trauma Victims. Later, Maiden and Bennett used the questions they had created as a basis for a clinically planned workbook.

Career and works

Among Jennifer Maiden's many awards are three Kenneth Slessor Prizes for Poetry, two

C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry The Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an enumeration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies w ...

,the overall Victorian Prize for Literature, the Harri Jones Memorial Prize, the H.M. Butterly-F.Earle Hooper Award(University of Sydney), the Grenfell Henry Lawson Festival Prize, the FAW

Christopher Brennan Award The Christopher Brennan Award (formerly known as the Robert Frost Prize) is an Australian award given for lifetime achievement in poetry. The award, established in 1973, takes the form of a bronze plaque which is presented to a poet who produces w ...

for lifetime achievement in poetry, two The Melbourne Age Poetry Book of the Year awards, the overall Melbourne Age Book of the Year and the

ALS Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the ...

. She has had residencies 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 and ...

, the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network u ...

, Springwood High School and the New South Wales Torture and Trauma Rehabilitation Service. She has been awarded several Fellowships by the Australia Council. Her second novel ''Play With Knives'' has been translated into German as ''Ein Messer im Haus'' (dtv, 1994). Her collection, ''Pirate Rain'', won The Melbourne Age Poetry Book of the Year in 2010 and the N.S.W. Premier's Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry in 2011. She is the first writer to have won the Kenneth Slessor Prize three times. In October 2011, the Australian magazine of politics, society and culture, ''The Monthly'', listed her poetry collection, ''Friendly Fire'' (2005), as the poetry book in their selection of 20 Australian Masterpieces since 2000, when they asked 20 Australian art critics to identify "the most significant work of art in their field since 2000". Her first UK collection, ''Intimate Geography'', which is a selection from four of her Australian collections (''Acoustic Shadow'', ''Mines'', ''Friendly Fire'' and ''Pirate Rain''), was published by Bloodaxe Books in March, 2012. Her collection, ''Liquid Nitrogen'', was published by Giramondo in November, 2012, won the

and the overall Victorian Prize for Literature, and was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize, the Australian Prime Minister's Awards, and the Judith Wright Calanthe Award. A chapbook of some of her new poems, ''The Violence of Waiting'', was published by Vagabond Press in November, 2013. Her collection, ''Drones and Phantoms'', was published by Giramondo in 2014, and won the 2015

. Her collection, ''The Fox Petition'', was published by Giramondo in November, 2015. A new, revised edition of her novel '' Play With Knives'' was published online as a free download by Quemar Press in 2016, followed by its previously unpublished sequel, ''Play With Knives: Two: Complicity''. Maiden's collection, ''The Metronome'', deals partly with the 2016 U.S. elections and includes their result in its epilogue. Because of topical relevance, Quemar Press uploaded its electronic edition on 9 November 2016. Giramondo published a print edition of ''The Metronome'' in March 2017. Her fourth novel, ''Play With Knives: Three: George and Clare and the Grey Hat Hacker'', was published online in December, 2016, as an exclusive from Quemar Press. It is a prose/verse sequel to ''Play With Knives'', ''Play With Knives: Two: Complicity'', and those of her poems which feature her characters George Jeffreys and Clare Collins. Aside from writing, her artwork has appeared on several of her book covers, including ''The Winter Baby'', ''Acoustic Shadow'', ''The Trust'', and some of her books published by Quemar Press. She also created three collages of photographs for Quemar Press' collection of Montaigne's ideas, ''Truth in Discourse: Observations by Montaigne''. Her collection, ''Appalachian Fall: Poems About Poverty in Power'', was released by Quemar Press in 2018. In January 2018, her novel, Play With Knives, was combined with its sequel, Play With Knives: Two: Complicity, in a paperback published by Quemar Press. This was the first time Play With Knives: Two: Complicity was published in print form. A ''Selected Poems 1967-2018'' by Jennifer Maiden was published from Quemar Press in February 2018. Jennifer Maiden's recent novels in poetry and prose, ''Play With Knives: Three'' and ''Play With Knives: Four'' were published in single paperback book from Quemar Press in 2018. The final novel in the Play With Knives Quintet, ''Play With Knives: Five: George and Clare, the Malachite and the Diamonds'', an experimental novel in poetry and prose, was released by Quemar Press in September 2018. Her new collection of poems, ''brookings: the noun'', was released in early 2019 by Quemar Press. Following her work as Writer in Residence at the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, Jennifer Maiden and the torture and trauma clinician, academic and researcher, Margaret Bennett collaborated, in 2019, on a workbook to assist torture or trauma survivors to write of their experiences, entitled ''Workbook Questions: Writing of Torture, Trauma Experience''. Maiden's poetry collection ''The Espionage Act'', was published at the beginning of 2020. In December 2019, an advance copy was included in Fairfax Media's list of most appreciated books in 2019'Ryan, Gig,
The books we loved in 2019
, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (December, 2019). In 2020, another non-fiction work by Jennifer Maiden was released, entitled ''The Cuckold and the Vampires: an essay on some aspects of conservative political manipulation of art and literature, including the experimental, and the conservatives' creation of conflict''. ''Biological Necessity: New Poems'' was released in 2021. ''Ox in Metal: New Poems'' was released in 2022. Maiden's most recent poetry collection ''Golden Bridge'' was published in January, 2023.

Bibliography

Poetry

Collections

* * ''The Problem of Evil''. (Prism, 1975) * ''The Occupying Forces''. (Gargoyle, 1975) * ''Mortal Details''. (Rigmarole, 1977) * ''Birthstones''. (Angus & Robertson, 1978) * ''The Border Loss''. (Angus & Robertson, 1979) * ''For The Left Hand''. (South Head, 1981) * ''The Trust''. (Black Lightning, 1988) * ''Bastille Day''. (NLA, 1990) * ''Selected Poems of Jennifer Maiden''. (Penguin, 1990) * ''The Winter Baby''. (Angus & Robertson, 1990) * ''Acoustic Shadow''. (Penguin, 1993) * ''Mines''. ( Paper Bark, 1999) * ''Friendly Fire'' (Giramondo, 2005) * ''Pirate Rain'' (Giramondo, 2009) * ''Intimate Geography: Selected Poems 1991-2010'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2012) * ''Liquid Nitrogen'' (Giramondo, 2012) * ''The Violence of Waiting'' (Vagabond Press, 2013) * ''Drones and Phantoms'' (Giramondo, 2014) * ''The Fox Petition'' (Giramondo, 2015) * ''The Metronome'' (Electronic Edition: Quemar Press, 2016) , (Print Edition: Giramondo, 2017) (pbk.) * ''Appalachian Fall: Poems About Poverty in Power'' (Quemar Press, 2018) Print Edition , Electronic Edition * ''Selected Poems 1967-2018'' (Quemar Press, 2018) Print Edition , Electronic Edition * ''brookings: the noun'' (Quemar Press, 2019) Print Edition , Electronic Edition * ''The Espionage Act'' (Quemar Press, 2020) Print Edition , Electronic Edition * ''Biological Necessity: New Poems'' (Quemar Press, 2021) Print Edition , Electronic Edition * ''Ox in Metal: New Poems'' (Quemar Press, 2022) Print Edition , Electronic Edition * ''Golden Bridge: New Poems'' (Quemar Press, 2023) Print Edition , Electronic Edition

Novels

* ''The Terms''. (Hale & Iremonger, 1982) * ''Play With Knives''. (Allen & Unwin, 1990. New Revised Electronic Edition: Quemar Press, 2016) * ''Play With Knives: Two: Complicity''. (Quemar Press, 2016) * ''Play With Knives: Three: George and Clare and the Grey Hat Hacker''. (Quemar Press, 2016) * ''Play With Knives: Four: George and Clare, the Baby and the Bikies''. (Quemar Press, 2017) * ''Play With Knives & Play With Knives: Two: Complicity''. (Quemar Press, 2018) (Paperback) * ''Play With Knives: Three: George and Clare and the Grey Hat Hacker & Play With Knives: Four: George and Clare, the Baby and the Bikies''. (Quemar Press, 2018) * ''Play With Knives: Five: George and Clare, the Malachite and the Diamonds''. (Quemar Press, 2018) Print Edition , Electronic Edition

Non-Fiction

* ''Workbook Questions: Writing of Torture, Trauma Experience'' (Written in collaboration with Margaret Bennett). (Quemar Press, 2019) Print Edition * ''The Cuckold and the Vampires: an essay on some aspects of conservative political manipulation of art and literature, including the experimental, and the conservatives' creation of conflict''. (Quemar Press, 2020) Print Edition , Electronic Edition

Literary awards

References

External links

Biography, 2 poems, audio recording and video at the Red Room Company10 poems at Poetry International WebFriendly Fire Title Page at Giramondo PublishingJennifer Maiden Title Page at Bloodaxe BooksReview of Pirate Rain at Radio NationalReview of Liquid Nitrogen at The AustralianReview of Intimate Geography at Poetry Book Society Poetry PortalLiquid Nitrogen Title Page at Giramondo Publishing Review of Liquid Nitrogen, Sydney Review of Books
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maiden, Jennifer 1949 births 20th-century Australian novelists Australian poets Australian women novelists Australian women poets Living people Writers from Sydney 20th-century Australian women writers ALS Gold Medal winners