John Ernest Tranter (born 29 April 1943) is an

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 Au ...

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 ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

. He has published more than twenty books of poetry; devising, with Jan Garrett, the long running

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

radio program ''Books and Writing''; and founding in 1997 the internet quarterly literary magazine ''

Jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which ...

'' which he published and edited until 2010, when he gave it to the University of Pennsylvania. The

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

awarded him a Creative Arts Fellowship in 1990; some Australian poets "acknowledge his role as innovator and experimentalist".Wilde et al. (1994)

Life

Tranter was born in

Cooma, New South Wales Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a po ...

and attended country schools, then took his BA in 1970 after attending university sporadically. He has worked mainly in publishing, teaching and radio production, and has travelled widely, making more than twenty reading tours to venues in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and Europe since the mid-1980s. He has lived in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in Australia, and overseas 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 ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

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 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He now lives in Sydney, where he is a company director (with his wife Lyn) of Australian Literary Management, a leading literary agency. He is married to Lyn, with adult children

Kirsten Kirsten is both a given name and a surname. Given name Kirsten is a female given name. It is a Scandinavian form of the names Christina and Christine.University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

(conferred, highly commended).

Literary career

In 1975 John Tranter co-designed the first ''Books & Writing'' radio program for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

, a program format which was still going strong thirty years later. During 1987 and 1988 John Tranter was in charge of the

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

weekly two-hour arts program Radio Helicon, and from 1990 to 1993 he was the poetry editor of the Sydney-based business/ arts weekly '' The Bulletin''. He has received many fellowships and other grants, and has been a visiting scholar at various institutions, from visiting fellow in the Faculty of Arts 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 ...

to writer-in-residence at

Rollins College Rollins College is a private college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several graduate programs. It is Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institution. History Rollins Colle ...

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was fo ...

and at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in England. He has published over twenty volumes of poetry, including ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' (University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2006) and ''Starlight: 150 Poems'' (University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2010). His ''Starlight: 150 Poems'', published by the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

Press, won the Queensland State Literary Award for poetry and the Age Book of the Year award for poetry in 2011, and ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'', published by the

Press, won the Victorian Premier's Prize for poetry in 2006, the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize in 2007, the South Australian Premier's Awards John Bray prize for poetry in 2008 and the South Australian Premier's Awards Premier's Prize for the best book overall (2006 and 2007) in 2008. His ''Under Berlin'', published by the

Press, won the

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form.Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, UK, 1998), ''Heart Print'' (Salt, Cambridge, UK, 2001), ''Different Hands'' (Folio/ Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Cambridge and Western Australia, 1998), a collection of seven experimental computer-assisted prose pieces, ''Borrowed Voices'' (Shoestring Press, Nottingham, 2002), a dozen reinterpretations of poems by other poets, ''Studio Moon'' and ''Trio'' (both Salt Publications, UK, 2003). He compiled and edited '' The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry'' with Philip Mead in 1991. Earlier anthologies include the controversial ''The New Australian Poetry'' (Makar, Brisbane, 1979), and a selection of ninety-four poems from the

Australian bicentennial The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. History The bicentennial year marked Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival with the 11 ships ...

poetry competition in 1988, published by ABC Books as ''The Tin Wash Dish''. In 2004 he built a free prototype internet site that presented biographical and bibliographical information about over seventy Australian poets as well as poems, book reviews and interviews. In 2005 he handed the project over to a consortium consisting of the

University of Sydney 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 si ...

English Department, the

University of Sydney Library The University of Sydney Library is the library system of the University of Sydney. It comprises eight locations across several campuses of the university. Its largest library, Fisher Library, is named after Thomas Fisher, an early benefactor. A ...

and the Copyright Agency Limited. In 2006 the consortium was granted half a million dollars by the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

to further extend the work as a research project as the

Australian Poetry Library 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, ...

with an internet site hosted by the University of Sydney Library, at http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/. The project was launched at State Government House, Sydney, on 25 May 2011, by which time it featured over 42,000 poems by Australian poets from 1800 to the present. In 2012 he began a regular Internet journal at http://johntranter.net/ In 2013 he posted to the Commentaries section of "Jacket2" magazine a list of links to some fifty pieces he authored or edited or photographed in "Jacket" magazine over thirteen years, at http://jacket2.org/commentary/tranter-jacket In 2014 John Tranter founded the ''Journal of Poetics Research'' at http://poeticsresearch.com, together with three other Managing Editors: Dr

Kate Lilley Kate Lilley (born 1960) is a contemporary Australian poet and academic. Early life Kate Lilley was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1960 and moved to Sydney with her family. She is the daughter of writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley, an ...

, University of Sydney; Dr Ann Vickery,

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, ...

; and Professor Philip Mead,

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 ...

; and some thirty other (mostly international) editors. The first (free) issue was published at the end of September 2014, and two issue per year, in March and September, were planned at that time.

Awards

* 2011: Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a poetry collection for ''Starlight: 150 Poems'' * 2011:

The Age Book of the Year ''The Age'' Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's ''The Age'' newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awar ...

Award for Poetry for ''Starlight: 150 Poems'' * 2009: Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (six-week residency in Umbria) * 2008:

South Australian Premier's Awards The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia, announced during Adelaide Writers' Week, as part of the Adelaide Festival. The awards in ...

Premier's Prize for the best book overall 2006 and 2007 for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 2008:

John Bray prize for poetry for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 2007:

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 ...

Kenneth Slessor Prize for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 2006:

Victorian Premier's Literary Award The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

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 ...

Prize for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 1993:

Award for Poetry for ''At the Florida'' * 1993:

Wesley Michel Wright Prize for Poetry The Wesley Michel Wright Prize is an Australian poetry prize named in honour of Wesley Michel Wright in recognition of his bequest to the University of Melbourne. It is awarded annually. History Wesley Michel Wright graduated from the University ...

for ''The Floor of Heaven'' * 1989:

Kenneth Slessor Prize for ''Under Berlin'' * 1988:

Grace Leven Prize for Poetry The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was an annual poetry award in Australia, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by William Baylebridge who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress ...

for ''Under Berlin''

Selected bibliography

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

: ''Parallax'', South Head Press *

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

: ''Red Movie and other poems'',

Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

: ''The Blast Area'' Gargoyle Poets number 13),

Makar Press A makar () is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as a royal court poet. Since the 19th century, the term ''The Makars'' has been specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth cen ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

: ''The Alphabet Murders'' (notes from a work in progress), Angus & Robertson *

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

: ''Crying in Early Infancy: 100 Sonnets'', Makar Press *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

: ''Dazed in the Ladies Lounge'', Island Press (Australia) *

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

: ''Selected Poems'', Hale & Iremonger *

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

: ''Under Berlin'',

University of Queensland Press Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house. Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetr ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

: ''The Floor of Heaven'',

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

/Angus & Robertson *

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

: ''At The Florida'', University of Queensland Press *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

: ''Late Night Radio'' Polygon Press *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'', University of Queensland Press *

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

: ''Starlight: 150 Poems'', University of Queensland Press

As editor

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

: '' The Best Australian Poetry 2007'', guest editor, University of Queensland Press *

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

: '' The Best Australian Poems 2011'', editor, Black Inc, Melbourne *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

: '' The Best Australian Poems 2012'', editor, Black Inc, Melbourne

References

Sources

"About us , jacket 2"'
Accessed: 2011-05-28 * Wilde, W., Hooton, J. & Andrews, B (1994) ''The Oxford Companion of Australian Literature'' 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Oxford University Press

External links

Jacket websiteOfficial homepageAustralian Poetry Library website
appeared in ''The Argost Online'' in early 2010.
John Tranter 'The Elephant has Left the Room': ''Jacket'' magazine and the Internet ''JASAL'', vol 12,no 1, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tranter, John 1943 births Living people Australian poets English-language poets Australian magazine publishers (people) University of Wollongong alumni