BIO DETAILS
ABN 80 327 486 926
Stories of the Feet (Five Islands, 2004)
Appetites of Light (PressPress, 2002)
The Ways of Waves (SideWaLK, 2000)
Nitty Gritty (Five Islands Press, 1997)
Tickle (Island Press, 1993)
Cannibals (Rochford St Press, 1985)
The Vanguard Sleeps In (Glandular Press, 1981)
Stories of the
Feet
In
Australia, dramatic narratives, in a variety of styles, still have a vitality
that at least matches, perhaps outshines what other English poetries can show…[“Two
Ghosts…” featured herein] with its oral manner, builds up an eerie tension…
Christopher Pollnitz , Ulitarra
We need a book like this once in a while to remind ourselves that poets document contemporary society in a way that social scientists never will. With Stories of the Feet, Les Wicks focuses his rearview mirror on us. Rob Walker, Cordite
Les is your tour guide to the real Australia, a land of Emus and Kangaroos indeed, also a land of dead bodies covered in sheets, or cold nights thumbing rides along deserted highways… Another fabulous book, from a great poet. Paul Gilbert, Above Ground Testing (Can)
Wicks’ penetrating gaze does indeed illuminate his
Australian landscape; it is a gaze that makes the reader realise just how much
is missed in the rush and bustle of everyday living. Glenda Guest, Artlook
This is a compact
collection of narrative poems which covers an immeasurable distance in places
and human nature. Ray Carmichael, Studio
…use
of the Australian landscape in different ways means that Wicks celebrates the
Australian landscape without being a landscape poet. Wicks moves nimbly through
difference in style, from the linguistically simple to the complex, with the
same ease that he shifts from the creation of settings to the use of identified
locations to explore the nature of the different characters who inhabit his
poems. Helen
Young, Philament
…full
of humour and dignity in the face of sheer survival. jeltje, Five Bells
inclusive
Oliver
Dennis, Island
An
honest and insightful attempt to see beyond subterfuge… Ralph Wessman,
Famous Reporter
Appetites of Light
Wicks lights the desires, ideas,
acceptance & epiphanies of his everyday Australian protagonists in a… rich,
impressionistic, resonant way. Christine Ferrari
…a fresh, strong, humanistic voice… Patricia Prime, Stylus
The Ways of Waves
...summer through a sharply focused
lens, a sudden wit and quick shifts of tone and mood. ...he is chameleon,
restless, full of questions, refusing to be pinned down. Happily moving here
& there, amused, bemused, shaking his head in disbelief, belief, in love
with it all. Brook Emery
…a ‘passing show’ commentary on our
beach culture…Helen
Horton, Imago
encapsulates Australian beach
culture….poems so bright you need Ray Bans. Smell the briny & the blockout; feel the salt in your hair, the sand in your
socks… Mark O’Flynn, Famous Reporter
…this is very clever poetry…Gloria B
Yates, Social Alternatives
Nitty Gritty
speaks out of the agora, not just from the top of Mt Parnassus Joanne Burns
varied,
nimble, humane, wry & well timed Jennifer
Maiden
wit & sparkle, the clever playfulness....warmth & compassion Tim Thorne FR
The portraits & voices of office workers, school boys & weary parents are hard & accurate. Carolyn Tetaz Cordite
Wizard of Wastelands Bev Braune ABR
....assembles an amazing cast of people in recognisable often dark places. With fine detail, their domestic & working lives are brilliantly portrayed. Anthony Lawrence
Others
atmospheres of ratbaggery Sydney Morning Herald
grittiness
the Age
personal & engaging, accessible &
immediate Warwick Wynne,
Australian Book Review
irony comes alive
Pamela Brown
Les' poetry has the romantic sneer of experience
entrenched.... duck ponds & screaming traffic Grant Caldwell
marvellous humour, deft satire & the comfort
of remembering Silvana Gardner, Imago
reveals contemporary issues with a biting
irony Bruce Copping, Newcastle Herald
What was it like to live now? Read Wicks, Brown,
Bolton, Henry, Caldwell, Beach, Lysenko. Kevin Brophy
…vivid & realistic… Honi Soit
a harder voice Tom
Thompson, National Times
…induces a love/hate suspension about the city Inprint
…good poetry… pifmagazine (US)
Readings/performance of works go into the many hundreds but include: Art Gallery NSW, Harold Park Hotel, Kinselas, Sydney/Macquarie/Charles Sturt Unis, Martin Place, Long Bay Gaol, Montsalvat, Parliament House (NSW), National Poetry Centre (London), NSW Writers’ Centre, State Library NSW Literary Weekend (1998), several Festivals of Sydney, Tasmanian Poetry Festival (1998), CBC (Can), Fiptr.com (Can), Radio National, 2BL, 2NC, 2UE, 2GB, 2JJJ, 2RES, 2SER, Writers' Radio, Australian Made Poetry, Regional ABC (Riverina, Nth Coast & Broken Hill), Australian Poetry Festival (1999, 2002, 2006), Subverse – Qld Poetry Festival (2001), Shoalhaven Poetry Festival (2002, 2005, 2007), Contemporary Australian Fiction Festival (2007).
Tours: - Festival International de la Poesie 2006 Quebec
- South
Coast WC workshopping project 2005
-
Book tour – Melb., Wagga, Tumbarumba, Broken Hill 2004
-
Litlink Tour - SW &
Central West NSW 2000
-
Poets on
Wheels - Nth NSW 2000
Writer in Residence: - Tasmania Writers’
Centre, 2002
-
Broken Hill,
December 2000 & August/September 2001
-
Booranga Writers
Centre, Charles Sturt University, 2000
Commitment : professionalism, treat the audience
with respect.
TUITION
\ WORKSHOPS
Includes State Library NSW, Dover Heights TAFE,
Sydney Festival, Long Bay Gaol, schools, NSW Writers' Centre, Booranga Writers Centre, Charles Sturt University –
Bathurst, Nth Rivers Writers’ Centre, Broken Hill Writers’ Centre, Tasmanian
Writers’ Centre.
Offers workshops featuring a no frills, practical
guide to getting published in the context of a supportive group environment.
This template has worked most effectively. Workshops are usually followed up by
an issue of "Australian Poetry Collaboration" (http://leswicks.tripod.com/apc.htm). This is regularly on the top ten Google hit list for Australian poetry, publicises both the
host & the writers participating.
PRIZES
Nominated - 1980
Pushcart Press: Best of the Little Presses (US),
Shortlisted -
Newcastle Poetry Prize 1999
Highly Commended
- 2005 Vera Newsom Poetry
Award
-
1998 Poetry
Book Club of Australia
-
2007 Broken
Hill Poetry competition
Winner - 1997 Lake Pedder Competition
1984
University of Sydney Union Literary Competition
(rarely enters competitions)
Judge: 2001 & 2008 NSW Premier’s (Kenneth Slessor) Poetry Prize
&
Community Affairs Commission Prize
2001 Leichhardt Performance Poetry Prize
1995-1999 Sports/Olympic Poetry Competition
EDITED/ORGANISED
Includes: 2000 to date
co-organiser Poets on Wheels. 2002 Heritage Light including publishing a
poem on the surface of a river. 1998-2003
Written in Sand Project. 1999-2000 temporary editor of Hobo. 1993
to date director Island Press. 1992-1999 Artransit Project. 1985 Musicians
Union Band Guide. 1978-1981 Meuse Magazine, supplements &
anthologies. Part of Poets Union (NSW) original steering committee, Jnt Sec./Treas. (1979-80), Fed
Secretary 1983
PUBLICATION
IN MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS ETC.
&, Above Ground Testing
(Can), Access, Afternoon (US), the Age, Alcubi
Journal (US), Animist, Antipodes (US), Arena (Vic), Arena (Mac. Uni), Ars Poetica, Artlook, Artransit, Artshub, Artsrush, Ascent (Can),
Australian Schools English Competition, The Australian’s Review of Books, Avant
Garde Times (Can), Bardflies,
Benzine (US), Big Bang, Blast, Blue
Dog, Blue Giraffe, Blue Pepper, Bonfire
(UK), Broadkill Review (US), Canberra Times, Centoria, Chaos
Theory (US), Cherry Bleeds (US), Compass, Concelebratory
Shoehorn Review (US), Conspire (US), Coppertales,
Cordite, Crosslines, Divan, Eclecticism, Ecopoetics (US), Essential Poetry, Eureka St, Famous
Reporter, $5 Freedom, Five Bells, foam:e, Four
W, Free Xpression,
Fulcrum (US), Funny Poets, Gangway(Austria), Going Down Swinging, Gravity (US),
Great American Poetry Show (US), Great Works (US), Grepoetry
(US), Hatbox, Heartland, Heritage Light, Hermes, Hobo, Homebrew, Hotchpotch,
Image, Imago, the Implosion (US), Inklings, Inprint, InsomAniac, Island, Ixion (UK), Juked (US), Kangaroo,
Ken*again (US), Linq, Last Taxi Review, loop (US), m.a.g. (US), Makar, Mattoid, Meuse,
Melic Review (US), Micropress Yates, Moria (US),
Moveable Type, Nepean Review, New England Review, Newcastle Herald, Newswrite, Northern Perspectives, Nth Position, Numbat, Over
the Bridge, Overland, Overlandexpress, OZpoet, P76, Panic Attack (Can), Passing
Show, Peepshow (UK), Pifmagazine
(US), Perfect Diary, Pixel Papers, Poem
Box (US), Poem Niederngasse (Sw),
Poesia, Poetry Book Club of Australia, Poetry Downunder, Poetryespresso, Poetry
Magazine (US), Poetry Monash, Positive Words, Predator of the Marvellous,
Private (It), Quill & Ink (Ind), Real
8 View (US), Reality X (US), Red Room, Redoubt, Revue Brèves Littéraire (Can), Riverrun, Road of Shadows (US), Salt Lick
Quarterly, Scarp, SCOPP, Shampoo (US), Sidewalk, Small Packages, Smorgasbord
(US), Social Alternatives, Softblow, Southerly, Southern Ocean Review (NZ), Spindrift,
Springfield Gazette, Squidink, Stylus, Sugar Mule
(US), Swyntax, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Mosaic,
The Tablet, Tam Tam (Italy, in translation), Tamba, Tears in the Fence (UK), Text, Tharunka,
The Last Real Poetry, Thirst, Thylazine, Tweed, Union
Recorder, Vehicle, Vernacular, Verso, Voice (US), Wandering Dog (UK), Woorilla, Word is Out, Written in Sand, Your Friendly
Fascist.
Anthologies:
A Poet’s Journey into Spin (PUI),
Anthology of the Illawarra (fip), Best
Australian Poems 2006 Black Inc), Billabong (Polish, in translation), Earth
Against Heaven (fip), First Australian Haiku
Anthology, Golden Wings (India), Hidden Hands, Light on Don Bank, Mood Lightning, Moving Out, Moving On, Ocarina Anthology
(India, in translation), One Minute To Midnight, Open Boat - Barbed Wire, Other
Voices International Project (US), Poets Choice (several years), Poets in
the Forest, Sand in our Souls – the
Beach in Australian Culture & History (MUP), Social Images 1891-1991, Sunlines, Ten Years
Live, Teratoid, The Argument from Desire (Newcastle Poetry Prize, 1999), Thylazine’s Australian Poets for Peace, 25 Australian Poets
( Canada, French), UN Dialogue Among
Civilisations Through Poetry, Version (Russ. In trans), Writing the Pacific (Fiji).
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