Tracy Ryan
Encyclopedia
Tracy Ryan is an Australia
n poet
and novelist. She has also worked as an editor, publisher, translator, and academic.
, where she grew up as part of a large family. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Curtin University, and studied European languages at the University of Western Australia
.
She has lived in Cambridge, England, where she worked as a bookseller, tutor, editor and writer. She was Judith E. Wilson Junior Visiting Fellow at Robinson College, Cambridge in 1998. She taught Australian Literature and Film at the University of East Anglia
. She has also lived in Ohio
in the USA.
She is married to poet John Kinsella and has two children.
, Maryline Desboilles and Francoise Han.
In the 1990s, Ryan, with John Kinsella, developed Folio(Salt), an off-shoot of Salt Magazine. It publishes and co-publishes "books and chapbooks focused on a pluralist vision of contemporary poetry which extended across national boundaries and a wide range of poetic practices".
Reviewer Tim Allen, reviewing the anthology Foil, wrote of her poetry as follows: "Tracy Ryan’s poems are tightly packed vibrations of spiky conceits. They have a restless intelligence which seems to suspect everything they touch; the references are scholarly and the contention is feminist but the result is polychromatic."
The John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan Poetry Prize was established in 2005 and is open to members of the University of Cambridge. The award is for an original verse composition in any form, of 500 lines or less.
She currently has a two-year grant from the Australia Council
.
, with Sylvia Plath
, and Debra Zott, in her review of Hothouse, agrees, saying that "certainly, there are [in Ryan's poetry] the mythic underpinnings one finds in Plath's poetry, as well as that quality of imbuing the personal with highly dramatised mythic proportions" and that "it is no secret that Ryan has been influenced by Plath". However, she argues that "the very mention of Plath's name shapes, and threatens to place limits on, the reader's experience of Ryan's poetry", that "Tracy Ryan's poetry does not need the Plath myth to prop it up".
In 2001, Ryan said the following about her writing:
Novels
Other
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...
n poet
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...
and novelist. She has also worked as an editor, publisher, translator, and academic.
Life
Tracy Ryan was born in Western AustraliaWestern Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, where she grew up as part of a large family. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Curtin University, and studied European languages at the University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
.
She has lived in Cambridge, England, where she worked as a bookseller, tutor, editor and writer. She was Judith E. Wilson Junior Visiting Fellow at Robinson College, Cambridge in 1998. She taught Australian Literature and Film at the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
. She has also lived in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
in the USA.
She is married to poet John Kinsella and has two children.
Literary career
Tracy Ryan has published over nine books, including two novels. Her poetry has appeared in several magazines, such as Salt, Literary Review, and Cordite. She has also appeared in anthologies. Ryan is particularly interested in languages and has translated several French writers including Hélène CixousHélène Cixous
Hélène Cixous is a professor, French feminist writer, poet, playwright, philosopher, literary critic and rhetorician. She holds honorary degrees from Queen's University and the University of Alberta in Canada; University College Dublin in Ireland; the University of York and University College...
, Maryline Desboilles and Francoise Han.
In the 1990s, Ryan, with John Kinsella, developed Folio(Salt), an off-shoot of Salt Magazine. It publishes and co-publishes "books and chapbooks focused on a pluralist vision of contemporary poetry which extended across national boundaries and a wide range of poetic practices".
Reviewer Tim Allen, reviewing the anthology Foil, wrote of her poetry as follows: "Tracy Ryan’s poems are tightly packed vibrations of spiky conceits. They have a restless intelligence which seems to suspect everything they touch; the references are scholarly and the contention is feminist but the result is polychromatic."
The John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan Poetry Prize was established in 2005 and is open to members of the University of Cambridge. The award is for an original verse composition in any form, of 500 lines or less.
She currently has a two-year grant from the Australia Council
Australia Council
The Australia Council, informally known as the Australia Council for the Arts, is the official arts council or arts funding body of the Government of Australia.-Function:...
.
Themes and inspiration
Ryan's poetry has been compared, by poet Dorothy HewettDorothy Hewett
Dorothy Coade Hewett was an Australian feminist poet, novelist, librettist and playwright. She was also a member of the Communist Party of Australia, though she clashed on many occasions with the party's leadership.-Early life:Hewett was born in Perth and was brought up on a sheep and wheat farm...
, with Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...
, and Debra Zott, in her review of Hothouse, agrees, saying that "certainly, there are [in Ryan's poetry] the mythic underpinnings one finds in Plath's poetry, as well as that quality of imbuing the personal with highly dramatised mythic proportions" and that "it is no secret that Ryan has been influenced by Plath". However, she argues that "the very mention of Plath's name shapes, and threatens to place limits on, the reader's experience of Ryan's poetry", that "Tracy Ryan's poetry does not need the Plath myth to prop it up".
In 2001, Ryan said the following about her writing:
I don’t adhere to any particular school of thought, except in the broadest sense that my writing is inextricably bound up with my feminism. This would be the only real connector between my books. I am interested in trying to find ways in which language may be interrupted, disrupted and rejigged for feminist purposes (among others). Usually this attempt would arise from something in either my personal life or the world around me. My home state is currently enacting a legal clamp-down on women, with regard to street prostitution—passing laws that restrict women’s movements and rights to occupy space. Though such factors are often what ‘provokes’ me into a poem, the poem equally draws life off other books (like most poets, I spend a lot of time reading). I work by a kind of principle of immersion in particular poets at particular times.
Awards and nominations
- 1994 Western Australian Premier's Book AwardsWestern Australian Premier's Book AwardsThe Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an award for books, scripts, digital narrative and a People's Choice. Awards are provided by the Government of Western Australia, and the awards process is managed by the State Library of Western Australia...
Prize for Poetry: Shortlisted for Killing Delilah - 1995 T. A. G. Hungerford AwardT. A. G. Hungerford AwardThe T. A. G. Hungerford Award is a biennial Australian literary award, first established in 1998. The award is to encourage new writers from Western Australia who have not previously been published in book form....
for Fiction: Shortlisted for Vamp - 1996 John Bray Poetry Award, Adelaide Festival: Shortlisted for Killing Delilah
- 1996 Times Literary Supplement: Poems on the Underground short poem competition: Joint winner
- 2000 Western Australian Premier's Book AwardsWestern Australian Premier's Book AwardsThe Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an award for books, scripts, digital narrative and a People's Choice. Awards are provided by the Government of Western Australia, and the awards process is managed by the State Library of Western Australia...
Prize for Poetry: Winner for The Willing Eye
Works
Poetry- Killing Delilah (1994, Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
- Intensities of Blue (1995, Folio, with John Kinsella)
- Bluebeard in Drag (1996, Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
- Slant (1997, rempress)
- The Willing Eye (1999, Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
- ex opere operato (2000, vagabond)
- Hothouse (2002, Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
- bloc notes (2007, equipage)
- Scar Revision (2008, Fremantle Press)
Novels
- Vamp (1997, Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
- Jazz Tango (2002, Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
- Sweet (2008, Fremantle Press)
Other
- Smith Street (2001, three-act play, produced at University of Western Australia, with John Kinsella)
External links
- Tracy Ryan, her website.
- Mutually Said: Poets Vegan Anarchist Pacifist, the blog that she shares with John Kinsella.