Marcella Polain (born 1958) is an Australian-resident poet, novelist and short fiction writer.

Early life and education

Marcella Polain was born in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the age of two with her Irish father and Armenian mother. Polain studied Literature and Creative Arts at Western Australian Institute of Technology (now

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

). For a short while she attended the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establishe ...

in Sydney. At Western Australian Secondary Teachers' College (now

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Aust ...

), she took a Post Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. Polain completed a PhD at the

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 ...

Career

Polain entered the Perth poetry scene in the early 1990s. She was a founding member (along with Morgan Yasbincek, Julia Lawrinson, Tracy Ryan and Sarah French) of Perth's WEB women's readings, which brought guests such as Dorothy Porter and Gig Ryan to Perth. She has been poetry editor for the literary magazines '' Westerly'' and '' Blue Dog''. She tutored in Writing for 10 years at Murdoch University before becoming Senior Lecturer at Edith Cowan University. Her first novel, ''The Edge of the World'', based on her family's survival of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

, won the University of Western Australia's Higher Degree by Research Prize for Publications, and was nominated for the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional best first book award. Her poetry has been published internationally, and she has been a recipient of an Australia Council Grant for New Work of Fiction. In 2012, she co-founded the micropress 'fold editions', dedicated to the creation of hand-made books. She has worked interdisciplinarily with composer-musicians, visual artists and dancer-choreographers. In April 2015, the Armenian translation of ''The Edge of the World'' was launched in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

at the Centenary Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, also part of the Global Conference Against Genocide. In 2015, Polain was also awarded the International Grand Prize for Poetry by the Academia Orient Occident.Judges fall for lesser-known books
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Books

Poetry

* ''Dumbstruck'' (1996) Five Islands Press * ''Each Clear Night'' (2000) Five Islands Press * ''Therapy Like Fish: new and selected poems'' (2008) John Leonard Press

Novels

* ''The Edge of the World'' (2007) Fremantle Press * ''La marginea lumii'' (''The Edge of the World'') (2012) Romanian translation by Sergiu Selian. Ararat * Armenian translation of T''he Edge of the World'', translated by Aram Arsenyan, edited by Aram Arkun. Apollon * ''Driving into the Sun'' (2019) Fremantle Press

Short fiction

* "Skin" in ''Westerly'' (December 2005) * "Sleep without Cameras" in ''Westerly'' (December 2010) * "Beautiful Negatives" in ''The Kid on the Karaoke Stage and other stories'' ed Georgia Richter. (2011) Fremantle Press * "A Calf is an Animal" in ''Westerly'' (December 2012) * "Curtain Man" in ''Antithesis'' (2013)

Honours and awards

* Anne Elder Prize for "Dumbstruck" 1996 * Short-listing of "Each Clear Night" WA Premiers Poetry Award 2000 * Patricia Hackett Prize for "Skins" in Westerly 2005 * University of Western Australia's Creative Works Publication Prize 2007 * Shortlisting of "The Edge of the World" for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for First Book 2007 * Short-listing of "Therapy like Fish: new and selected poems" ACT Judith Wright Prize 2008 * Patricia Hackett Prize for "Sleep without Cameras" Westerly Dec 2010 * Long listing of "The Stubborn Murmur: The Armenian Genocide and After" in the Calibre Essay Prize 2010 * Australia Council Grant for Established Writers, New Work, Fiction, 2010–2011 * International Grand Prize for Poetry, Academia Orient-Occident, Romania, 2015

References

External links

Profile
at

Fremantle Press Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in Western Australia. Fremantle Press was established by the Fremantle Arts Centre in 1976. It focuses on publishing Western Australian writers and writin ...

Interview
at PerthWoman.com.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Polain, Marcella Australian poets Living people 1958 births Curtin University alumni Edith Cowan University alumni University of Western Australia alumni Academic staff of Edith Cowan University Australian people of Irish descent