Kenneth Ivo Brownley Langwell Mackenzie (Pen name: Kenneth Seaforth Mackenzie) (25 September 1913 - 19 January 1955), was an Australian poet and novelist.

He was born in South Perth

South Perth, Western Australia

South Perth is a residential suburb 3 kilometres south of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, which adjoins the southern shore of Perth Water on the Swan River...

  , and grew up in Pinjarra, Western Australia

Pinjarra, Western Australia

Pinjarra is a town in the Peel region of Western Australia along the South Western Highway, from the state capital, Perth and south-east of the coastal city of Mandurah. Its local government area is the Shire of Murray. At the 2006 census, Pinjarra had a population of 3,279.Pinjarra is an area...

, attended Guildford Grammar School

Guildford Grammar School

Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an independent, day and boarding school for boys situated in Guildford, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia....

 and died by accidental drowning in Tallong Creek near Goulburn, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. His experiences at Guildford in part inspired his novel of 1937 The Young Desire It .
His novel Dead Men Rising was about the Cowra breakout

Cowra breakout

During World War II, a prisoner of war camp near the town of Cowra in New South Wales, Australia was the site of one of the largest prison escapes of the war, on 5 August 1944. At least 545 Japanese POWs were involved in the breakout.-The camp:...

 of which he had first hand experience having been stationed there at the time of the event.

He had received a number of literary grants and awards, as well as a year before his death and left a number of works which have been since edited and published His life in Sydney included involvement with the world of Normal Lindsay and Hugh McCrae

Hugh McCrae

Hugh Raymond McCrae was an Australian writer.McCrae was born in Melbourne, the son of the Australian author George Gordon McCrae. He was originally articled to an architect, but later took upon writing and acting, settling eventually in Sydney and Camden...

and archival records show significant influence from them

Novels

• The Young Desire it London, Cape. 1937
• Chosen People London, Cape. 1938
• Dead men Rising London, Cape. 1951
• The Refuge London, Cape. 1954

Poetry

• Our Earth Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1937
• The Moonlit Doorway Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1944

As editor

• Australian poetry, 1951-2 (selected by Kenneth Mackenzie) Sydney : Angus & Robertson, 1952.

Biographical material

• Jones, Evan (1969) Kenneth Mackenzie: Australian Writers and their Work Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
• Kinross-Smith, Graeme (1980) Australian Writers Melbourne: Thomas Nelson.