Kate Llewellyn (born 15 January 1936) is an Australian poet, author, diarist and travel writer.

Biography

Eldest of four children of Ron and Ivy Brinkworth (née Shemmald), Llewellyn was born Kathleen Jill Brinkworth in 1936 in

Tumby Bay Tumby Bay is a coastal town situated on the Spencer Gulf, on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, north of Port Lincoln. The town of Tumby Bay is the major population centre of the District Council of Tumby Bay, and the cen ...

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. Llewellyn trained at the

Royal Adelaide Hospital The Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), colloquially known by its initials or pronounced as "the Rah", is South Australia's largest hospital, owned by the state government as part of Australia's public health care system. The RAH provides tertiary hea ...

, graduating as a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

in 1958. In 1960 she married Richard Llewellyn, with whom she had two children, including

Caro Llewellyn Caro Llewellyn (born 1965) is an Australian business executive, artistic director, festival manager and nonfiction writer. As of 2020, she is chief executive officer of the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. Career Llewellyn is the daughter of Ri ...

. The couple divorced in 1972. From 1965 to 1972 she owned and directed the Llewellyn Galleries,

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and from 1971 to 1972 the Bonython Galleries,

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

. She graduated from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

with a BA in history and classics in 1978. Llewellyn worked on the Unley Planning Study 1978 and in 1979 worked in the Women's Advisory Unit of the SA Premier's Department. She was also involved in the

Poets Union Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, ...

. Llewellyn began writing as an undergraduate. In addition to her poetry, she has written book reviews, criticisms and essays for Australian poetry and prose anthologies, magazines and newspapers and also on travel, gardening, food and people. Llewellyn is a regular speaker at writers' festivals, including the 2015

Adelaide Writers' Week Adelaide Writers' Week, known locally as Writers' Week or WW, is a large and mostly free literary festival held annually in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, it forms part of the ...

. She has also taught creative writing courses and been writer-in-residence at a number of colleges, universities and writers' centres across Australia.

Recognition

''Australian Writers, 1975–2000'' (one volume of the ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' published by Thomson Gale, 2002-6) edited by Selina Samuels includes a biography of Llewellyn by Dorothy Jones. In 2005 Llewellyn received a Literature Board Fellowship (Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships) valued at $80,000 to write an autobiography and book of poems.

Awards

* 2006 Australian Book of the Year for ''Playing with Water'' (2005) diary * 1982 Joint Winner,

Anne Elder Award The Anne Elder Trust Fund Award for poetry was administered by the Victorian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers from its establishment in 1976 until 2017. From 2018 the award has been administered by Australian Poetry. It is awarded ann ...

(Fellowship of Australian Writers Victoria Inc. National Literary Awards) for ''Trader Kate and the Elephants'' (

Friendly Street Poets Friendly Street Poets, often referred to as just Friendly Street, is a poetry reading group and publisher in Adelaide, South Australia, established in 1975. History Friendly Street Poets was inaugurated as a fortnightly poetry reading on 11 Nove ...

) * 1975 Bundey Prize for English Verse for ''Teeth and Other Verses'' (1975) Selected work poetry

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * ''Teeth nd other verses' (University of Adelaide, 1975) * ''Trader Kate and the Elephants (Friendly Street Poets, 1982) * ''Luxury'' (Women’s Redress Press, 1985) * ''Honey: Poems'' or ''I am my own companion'' (Hudson Publishing, 1988) * ''Figs: Poems'' (Hudson Publishing, 1990) * ''Selected Poems'' (Hudson Publishing, 1992) * ''Crosshatched'' (Angus & Robertson, 1994) * ''Sofala: And Other Poems'' (Hudson Publishing, 1999) * ''Kate Llewellyn'' (University of Wollongong Press, 2010) *

Non-fiction

* ''The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets'', with Susan Hampton co-editor (Penguin, 1986) * ''The Waterlily: A Blue Mountains Journal'' (Hudson Publishing, 1987) * ''Dear You'' (Hudson Publishing, 1988) * ''The Mountain'' (Hudson Publishing, 1989) * ''Angels and Dark Madonnas'' (Hudson Publishing, 1991) * ''Lilies, Feathers & Frangipani'' (Angus & Robertson, 1993) – travelogue / braille * ''The Floral Mother and Other Essays'' (Angus & Robertson, 1995) * ''Gorillas, Tea and Coffee: An African Sketchbook'' (Hudson Publishing, 1996) * ''Burning: A Journal'' (Hudson Publishing, 1997) * ''Playing with Water'' (HarperCollins, 2005) * ''The Dressmaker's Daughter'' (Fourth Estate, 2008) * ''A Fig at the Gate: The Joys of Friendship, Gardening and the Gaining of Wisdom'' (Allen & Unwin, 2014) * ''First Things First: Selected Letters of Kate Llewellyn 1977–2004'', edited by Ruth Bacchus & Barbara Hill (Wakefield Press, 2015)

Critical studies and reviews of Llewellyn's work

;''Harbour : poems 2000–2019'' *

Selected contributions

In 1982 three of Llewellyn’s short stories – "The Balts", "Gone" and "I Am My Own Companion" – were published in ''Frictions, an Anthology of Fiction by Women'', edited by Anna Gibbs and Alison Tilson (Sybylla Cooperative Press & Publications, 1982). Her short story for ''Room to Move: The Redress Press Book of Australian Women's Short Stories'' edited by Suzanne Falkiner (Allen & Unwin, 1985) was one of 32 chosen from over 700 submissions. She is represented in '' The New Oxford Book of Australian Verse Chosen by Les A Murray'' (Oxford University Press, 1986). One of her poems, "To a Married Man", appears in ''60 Classic Australian Poems, with commentaries by Geoff Page'' (University of New South Wales Press, 2009). It originally appeared in her award-winning book, ''Trader Kate and the Elephants''. Her poem, "Finished", from ''Selected Poems'', was selected by John Leonard for inclusion in ''Australian Verse: An Oxford Anthology'' (Melbourne Oxford University Press, 1998). ''Places in the heart: thirty prominent Australians reveal their special corners of the world'', edited and compiled by Susan Kurosawa (Sceptre, 1997) includes her "Endless Horizons".

References

External links

Kate Llewellyn Sows a Garden of Letters and Memories
by

Ashley Hay Ashley Hay (born 1971) is an Australian writer. She has won awards for both her nonfiction science writing and her novels. she is editor of the Griffith Review. Career Hay is the author of three novels, including ''The Railwayman's Wife'', ...

, The Weekend Australian, 28 March 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Llewellyn, Kate 1936 births Australian women poets Living people Australian women short story writers University of Adelaide alumni