Louise Crisp (born 1957) is a contemporary

Australian 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 A ...

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 ...

, deckhand, and fire tower watcher.

Early life and education

Crist was born in

Omeo Omeo ( ) is a town in Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for 'mountains' or 'hills ...

, Victoria and studied linguistics, anthropology, and prehistory 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 ...

Career

Crisp has worked in various jobs, including as a

fire tower A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a " fire lookout" whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or ...

person on Mount Nugong, as deckhand on fishing boats in both the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

and

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 ...

, and as a spokesperson for Forest Fire Management Victoria.

Poetry

Her first collection was ''The luminous ocean'', a shared volume with Valery Wilde's ''In the Half-Light'', published by

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 ...

in 1988. She has published several more books of poetry including written in ''pearl & sea fed'' (published by Hazard Press, New Zealand in 1994) which she wrote while working on the fire tower. This volume was shortlisted for the 1995

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 ...

and the New South Wales Premier's Award. Crisp's 2019 book, ''Yuiquimbiang'', was described as "another wonderful addition to our literature’s re-engagement with the mosaic-continent nowadays known as Australia" and shortlisted for the 2020 Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry.

Works

* ''The luminous ocean''. (

, 1988) * ''pearl & sea fed''. (New Zealand: Hazard Press, 1994) * ''Ruby Camp: A Snowy River series''. (Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 1998) * ''Three golden fish''. (Wind and Water Press, 2004) * ''Uplands: poems''. (Five Islands Press, c.2007) * ''Yuiquimbiang''. (Cordite Books, 2019)

Personal life

Crisp lives in

East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres (14%) of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: East Gippsland (St ...

(

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

) with her partner and her two daughters. She is a canoeist.

References

External links

Crisps' profile on Friendly Street Poets

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crisp, Louise 1957 births Living people Australian poets Writers from Victoria (Australia) Australian sailors Australian conservationists