Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...
poet.
Early life
Samuel Wagan Watson was born in
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 ...
and is of Munanjali and Germanic descent. His father is the novelist and political activist, Sam Watson. Watson grew up in Caboolture West and completed his secondary studies at
Morayfield State High School
Morayfield State High School is a public, coeducational high school in Morayfield, Queensland, Australia. It first opened its doors on 28 January 1981.
Campus
Morayfield High School sits beside the intersection of Visentin Road and Buchanan R ...
, with his sister Nicole, a lawyer. In his youth, Watson enjoyed fishing and diving off the end of a jetty in Brisbane with friends.
Career
Watson originally was known as an author of short stories, however changed focus to poetry after many rejections from companies. Watson's shift was inspired by one such company noting that his writing contained good poetic elements. Watson's first poems were in
sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...
form, in contrast to the
free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French '' vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.
Defini ...
of his current style. The themes of his poetry range from observations of everyday experience, to the effects of colonisation in a vividly direct, almost tactile, language.
In the late 1990s, Watson was invited to participate in a
Brisbane City Council
Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisdic ...
project to raise awareness of the
Boondall Wetlands
The Boondall Wetlands lie on the edge of Moreton Bay in the Brisbane suburb of Boondall between Nudgee Beach and Shorncliffe, in south-east Queensland, Australia. The wetlands are preserved within the Boondall Wetlands Reserve which was pr ...
, alongside fellow poets Brett Dionysius and Liz Hall-Downs. The project was set up to bring together historians, poets, photographers, environmentalists and designers and show the cultural history of the Wetlands, both the local indigenous history and the experiences of European settlers. In 2000 an audio CD was produced of the three poets' work, called ''Blackfellas Whitefellas Wetlands''. The very different voices and focus of the poets worked together to create a sense or place and of history.
His 2004 poetry collection ''Smoke Encrypted Whispers'' has been set to music by 23 Brisbane-based composers, who each wrote a two-minute piece to respond to a particular poem. The project was commissioned by the clarinetist Paul Dean, who conducted a recording of the work featuring soprano Margaret Schindler and the Southern Cross Soloists, with
Ron Haddrick
Ronald Norman Haddrick (9 April 1929 – 11 February 2020) was an Australian actor, cricketer, narrator and presenter. In 2012, he received the Actors Equity Lifetime Achievement Award for his long and distinguished career in media, spanning s ...
narrating."Fine Australian poems in lovingly crafted musical settings", ''
Limelight
Limelight (also known as Drummond light or calcium light)James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books. is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created w ...
haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, ...
to keep Japanese astronauts amused on the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
.
Watson is currently touring Australia and delivering poetry courses in various schools, such as
Brisbane Grammar School
, motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour
, established = 1868
, type = Independent, day & boarding
, gender = Boys
, denomination = Non-denominational
, slogan =
, key_people =
, ...
, as a
writer in residence
Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...
.
Influences
Watson recognises the influence of his parents in his work, and also cited
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, C ...
,
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
,
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian anc ...
,
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards
The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...
,
David Unaipon
David Ngunaitponi (28 September 1872 – 7 February 1967), known as David Unaipon, was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Ngarrindjeri people. He was a preacher, inventor and author. Unaipon's contribution to Australian society helped to bre ...
Award for an Emerging Indigenous Writers for ''Of Muse, Meandering and Midnight''
* 2005 —
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, t ...
,
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.Patrick White Literary Award
Samuel Watson has also received a Highly Commended in both the Anne Elder Awards and the 2000 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Australian Culture.