Jan Owen
Author's name:
Jan Owen
Author description:
Jan Owen has worked as a librarian, editor and teacher and has been a writer in residence in Venice, Rome, Paris and Malaysia. Awards for her poetry include the Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize, the Anne Elder Award, the Wesley Michel Wright Poetry Prize, The Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize and the Max Harris Poetry Award. Her 2002 collection Timedancing was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Calanthe Award and the John Bray National Poetry Prize. Her most recent volume is Poems 1980–2008.
Latest book:
Poems 1980–2008
John Leonard Press, Melbourne, 2008
This retrospective includes a majority of the poems from Owen’s first five volumes along with a book-length collection of new poetry Laughing in Greek. Owen’s verse is infused with the sciences, and with art, philosophy and history but the deep focus of her work is on human relationships and the natural world. Some of the new poems seem glowing labyrinths of thought and feeling – led through by a wonderful clarity of voice and rhythm.
Sample bibliography:
Boy with a Telescope
Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1986
Fingerprints on Light
Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1990
Blackberry Season
Molonglo Press, Canberra, 1993
Night Rainbows
Heinemann, Melbourne, 1994
Timedancing
Five Islands Press, Wollongong, 2002
Genres:
Essays/articles, Poetry, Other
Contact author:
Jan Owen
Email: janowen@chariot.net.au
Phone: +61 (8) 8557 4596
Address: PO Box 351, Aldinga Beach SA 5173
Available for:
school visits, workshops, mentoring, assessments, speaking engagements
The SA Writers' Centre is assisted by the South Australian Government through Arts SA, and the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory bodies.