Australian writer, a Tasmanian-based poetic wordsmith, literary reviewer and poetry teacher. Anthony Lawrence was born in the country town of Tamworth, NSW, in 1957. Ostensibly a landscape poet, his work is influenced by James Dickey and intertwines themes of death and sexuality with questions of masculinity. He has written six books of poems, “Dreaming In Stone,” 1989, “Three Days Out Of Tidal Town,” 1992, “The Darkwood Aquarium,” 1993, “Cold Wires Of Rain,” 1994, “The Viewfinder,” 1996 and “Skinned By Light: New & Selected Poems,” 1998, with “The Sleep of a Learning Man” forthcoming.
His debut novel, “In The Half Light,” 2000 (UK, 2001), is a coming-of-age tale about the schizophrenic James Molloy who has strange lights, colours and voices in his head. Molloy meets Stephanie, another schizophrenic and after she disappears he goes to Ireland where he falls in love with Irish music, with poetry, with a girl, and with Ireland itself. Lawrence has also co-written a dramatic play, “Blood Oath.”
He explains that “all poetry has, at its core, a sense of drama. The shortest, lyrical poem can be a tiny one-act, one-person play. Likewise long narrative poems.” His poems have been anthologized internationally and also appear in many magazines and journals. His work has won many major awards, including the New South Wales Premier’s Award, The Judith Wright Calanthe Award and the Newcastle Poetry Prize. Handsome, blue-eyed and dark blonde, he lives in Hobart.
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