Peter Bakowski
Encyclopedia
Peter Bakowski is an Australian poet
. His poems often use deceptively simple words and images, reminiscent at times of words in a child's picture book, but with some stylistic similarities to the work of writers such as Charles Simic
or Vítězslav Nezval
,
, to Polish
-German immigrants. Bakowski was born premature
, with a hole in the heart
, he has survived two heart operations. His parents ran a delicatessen
, and after completing his secondary schooling he worked in a series of low-paying jobs before opening his own record shop in the early 1980s.
He commenced writing poetry while travelling through Texas
in 1983. His early works, including his first book Thunder Road, Thunder Heart (1988), show the influence of American
Beat
writers such as Jack Kerouac
, Allen Ginsberg
and Charles Bukowski
. His poems have appeared in over one hundred literary magazines worldwide, predominantly in English but also in Arabic, German, Japanese, Polish, Spanish and French. He has lived in Melbourne
and London
, and travelled widely throughout Australia
, Europe
, North America
and Africa
, occasionally as an artist-in-residence. In 2007 he became an artist in residence at the University of Macau
. He has been writer-in-residence at the B.R. Whiting Library in Rome; the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris; the University of Macau; Soochow University
, Jiangsu Province, China; the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre in Greenmount, Western Australia; the Hobart Writer’s Cottage in Battery Point, Tasmania
; the Arthur Boyd Estate of “Bundanon
” near Nowra, New South Wales; the Broken Hill Poetry Festival, New South Wales.
His travels have provided a wide range of material for his work; his fifth collection Days That We Couldn’t Rehearse contains poems set in Paris
, Transylvania
, the Upper Volga, Uzbekistan
and Sarajevo
.
Raised a Catholic
, in 1994 he married Helen Bourke, an Irish-Australian seamstress. They live in Melbourne with their son Walter.
His book In The Human Night won the 1996 Victorian Premier's Award, the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
. In 2010 he was shortlisted for the same award, for his book Beneath Our Armour.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. His poems often use deceptively simple words and images, reminiscent at times of words in a child's picture book, but with some stylistic similarities to the work of writers such as Charles Simic
Charles Simic
Dušan "Charles" Simić is a Serbian-American poet, and was co-Poetry Editor of the Paris Review. He was appointed the fifteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2007.-Early years:...
or Vítězslav Nezval
Vítezslav Nezval
Vítězslav Nezval was one of the most prolific avant-garde Czech writers in the first half of the twentieth century and a co-founder of the Surrealist movement in Czechoslovakia....
,
Biography
Born in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, to Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
-German immigrants. Bakowski was born premature
Premature birth
In humans preterm birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age. The cause for preterm birth is in many situations elusive and unknown; many factors appear to be associated with the development of preterm birth, making the reduction of preterm birth a challenging...
, with a hole in the heart
Atrial septal defect
Atrial septal defect is a form of congenital heart defect that enables blood flow between the left and right atria via the interatrial septum. The interatrial septum is the tissue that divides the right and left atria...
, he has survived two heart operations. His parents ran a delicatessen
Delicatessen
Delicatessen is a term meaning "delicacies" or "fine foods". The word entered English via German,with the old German spelling , plural of Delikatesse "delicacy", ultimately from Latin delicatus....
, and after completing his secondary schooling he worked in a series of low-paying jobs before opening his own record shop in the early 1980s.
He commenced writing poetry while travelling through Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1983. His early works, including his first book Thunder Road, Thunder Heart (1988), show the influence of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Beat
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
writers such as Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
and Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
. His poems have appeared in over one hundred literary magazines worldwide, predominantly in English but also in Arabic, German, Japanese, Polish, Spanish and French. He has lived in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and travelled widely throughout Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, occasionally as an artist-in-residence. In 2007 he became an artist in residence at the University of Macau
University of Macau
The University of Macau, ;, established in 1981, was the first and currently the largest university in Macau, a former Portuguese colony. It was formerly known as University of East Asia , and was renamed the University of Macau in 1991. The university offers about 100 Doctoral, Master's and...
. He has been writer-in-residence at the B.R. Whiting Library in Rome; the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris; the University of Macau; Soochow University
Soochow University (Suzhou)
Soochow University , colloquially known in Chinese as Suda is a university in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. The school is part of the Chinese Ministry of Education's Project 211, and a Jiangsu provincial key comprehensive university.-History:...
, Jiangsu Province, China; the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre in Greenmount, Western Australia; the Hobart Writer’s Cottage in Battery Point, Tasmania
Battery Point, Tasmania
Battery Point is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is immediately south of the Central business district. It is in the local government area of City of Hobart....
; the Arthur Boyd Estate of “Bundanon
Bundanon
Bundanon is a large home near Nowra, New South Wales, Australia. It was the home of the painter Arthur Boyd.-Description and history:Bundanon started as a single-storey weatherboard structure built circa 1840. In 1866, a two-storey sandstone house, made of locally quarried stone, was built...
” near Nowra, New South Wales; the Broken Hill Poetry Festival, New South Wales.
His travels have provided a wide range of material for his work; his fifth collection Days That We Couldn’t Rehearse contains poems set in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, the Upper Volga, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
and Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
.
Raised a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, in 1994 he married Helen Bourke, an Irish-Australian seamstress. They live in Melbourne with their son Walter.
His book In The Human Night won the 1996 Victorian Premier's Award, the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
The C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, for a significant selection of new work by a poet published in a book. It is named after the early twentieth century vernacular poet C. J...
. In 2010 he was shortlisted for the same award, for his book Beneath Our Armour.
External links
- Peter Bakowski official site
- http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/stories/2011/3241325.htm July 2011 ABC Radio National broadcast of Peter Bakowski reading poems from "Beneath Our Armour" and discussing their genesis.
- http://walleahpress.com.au/bakowski.html Interview with Peter Bakowski for Famous Reporter, conducted by Ralph Wessman, October 2004
- http://georgedanderson.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html Interview with Peter Bakowski and book review of "Beneath Our Armour", conducted by George Anderson 2010