BIO DETAILS
Les Wicks
https://leswicks.tripod.com/lw.htm
ABN 80 327 486 926
Belief (Flying
Islands, 2019)
Getting
By Not
Fitting In (Island, 2016)
El
Asombrado (Rochford St, 2015 in
Spanish & English)
Sea of Heartbeak (Unexpected Resilience) (Puncher & Wattmann, 2013)
Barking Wings (PressPress, 2012)
Shadows of the
Read (Krok,
2011 in Ukrainian & English)
The Ambrosiacs (Island, 2009)
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, 1993)
Cannibals (Rochford St Press, 1985)
The Vanguard
Sleeps In (Glandular Press, 1981)
Belief
…Belief displays
an accomplished elder statesman of Australian poetry laying out with disarming
agreeableness some of the fundamental questions of the near future. Often
playful, sometimes circular, always self-aware in an optimistic rather than
despairing way…Lucas Smith Plumwood
Mountain
…because
his eye is withering and direct, Wicks gives his subjects a dignity and
specificity that many a contemporary Australian novelist would envy. Adam Aitken. Communion
Wicks’ Belief is a major
contribution to Australian poetry, and an important commentary on contemporary
being. ¡strong and brave, gentle, angry and broken. It tells the truth. Judith Nangala Crispin
Verity La
Iconoclastic, irreverent, but always
vigorous and compelling Margaret Bradstock
an elaborate mosaic
where the tiles are words; paradoxes, satire and the vernacular adorn the pages
of this beautifully crafted book. Beatriz Copello
Getting By Not Fitting In
self-aware,
debonair, generous, weary, even despondent, yet never despairing. Dominique
Hecq
possesses the same Wickensian kaleidoscopic concision, wit and dexterity
Carol Jenkins
While such
juxtaposition is disquieting, it is also deeply human: this is Wicks’ truest
touch. David Thomas
Henry Wright
Sea of Heartbeak
(Unexpected Resilience)
...the mixture of prawn-on-the-barbie, stale beer and thongs suburban,
with a sophisticated lyricism and openness to nature... harvesting poetic
truffles; line after line seems to have arrived entire. John Watson,
Southerly
... an
odyssey buoyed by hope and reckless humour. Rebecca Kylie Law, Rochford St
Review
…is
determined to take the reader on a dive beneath. It took me on a voyage which I
found bracing and stimulating at the same time as it did not turn away from the
discomforting reality of the costs our lives inflict on our futures. Rae
Desmond Jones
Les Wicks has a capacity to invest ordinary truisms with moral and
metaphysical nuances…these are tip-of-the-iceberg poems – a surface you can see
and admire, but with hidden depths that are both wonderful and disturbing.
David Gilbey, ABC Radio
Wicks
works his ideas through images rather than argument. The poems
are visceral; each shaped towards an emotional experience.
John Upton, Mascara
Barking Wings
...cheeky,
wry, slightly errant and wayward, sometimes perverse or wicked... Paul
Cliff
...image piled up on image, words
and sounds crashing to together and, even when we can see ‘blue sky’ for a few
lines, we are always aware that another surprise is only a line break away. Mark Roberts Rochford St Review
The Ambrosiacs
Wicks’ The Ambrosiacs
visual and tonal senses, shown through a
series of relentless escapes and endscapes, create a
striking depiction of the poet’s perceptions and observations. Matthew Hall
Cordite
…acutely observant, bitingly satirical and as unfailingly generous as
ever. Ralph Wessman
Famous Reporter
…an inspired elegy to human suffering
and loss, dark and morose at times yet engaging and full of life. Julie Waugh, Five Bells
…intense, quite relentless, often dark and
pessimistic. But this of course is not the whole story, for within these pages
are striking moments of grace, awareness, acceptance, restitution… joanne burns
...the poetry is
firmly anchored in the recognisably here and now of the material world,
craftily exploiting tensions between the natural world and the depredations of
short-sighted materialism and consumerism. Cliff Forshaw
Stories of the Feet
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
...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
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…”] with its oral manner, builds up an eerie tension… Christopher Pollnitz , Ulitarra
atmospheres
of ratbaggery Sydney Morning
Herald
grittiness the Age
personal
& engaging, accessible & immediate Warwick Wynne, Australian Book Review
irony
comes alive Pamela Brown
poetry
in 3d leaving ‘grit under our fingernails.‘ Danny
Gardner
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
a harder voice Tom Thompson, National Times
…induces a
love/hate suspension about the city Inprint
…good poetry… pifmagazine
(US)
One of the great Australian performance poets Steve Smart
Readings/presentations/performance of works go into the many hundreds
but include: several Sydney Festivals, several Sydney Writers’ Festivals
including 2013, 2011 to date member Harbour City Poets. Tasmanian Poetry
Festival, Qld Poetry Festival, Overload, 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, Byron Writers
Festival, State Library NSW Literary Weekend, CBC (Can), Colombia Television,
Fiptr.com (Can), Radio National, 2BL, 2NC, 2UE, 2GB, 2JJJ, 2RES, 2SER, Writers'
Radio, Dan O’Connell, Australian Made Poetry, Regional ABC (Riverina, Nth Coast
& Broken Hill), Australian Poetry
Festival, Castlemaine State Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival, Noosa Long
Weekend, Shoalhaven Poetry Festival, Contemporary Australian Fiction Festival,
Broken Hill Poetry Festival.
Tours:- 2020 — life online —14
Festival Mundial de Poesia de Venezuela ,Festival International
de Poesia de Medellin, GeneSiir
festival,
La Voce dei Poeti, Pinecone BigO.
- 2019 Newcastle Canberra Melbourne Perth
& Chengdu Int Poetry Week
- 2018 Kerala Literature Festival, Chair
Poetry Evenings Kolkata
- 2016 Vilenica Int
Lit Fest, Kosovo Int. Poe. Fest., Bellingen R&W Fest.
- 2015 Festival de Poesia de Nicaragua & Istanbul
International Poetry Festival
- 2014 World Poetry Festival Delhi, Austin
International Poetry Festival,
Beyond Baroque (LA)
& Struga Poetry Evenings.
- 2013 International
Poetry Festival Medellin
- 2011 International Literary Festival, Lviv, Ukraine
-
2009 12000km book programme Adelaïde, Perth,
Newcastle, West NSW
& Melbourne
- 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: - KSP Established WIR, FAWWA Established
W-I-R, Tasmania Writers’ Centre, Broken Hill, Booranga Writers
Centre. Commitment: professionalism, treat the audience with respect. Commitment:
professionalism, treat the audience with respect.
TUITION
\ WORKSHOPS
The Plan to
be Published & Intense
templates would rate amongst the best known poetry
workshops in Australia.
Previous host venues include State Library NSW,
Dover Heights TAFE, Sydney Festival, Long Bay Gaol, schools, NSW Writers'
Centre, Booranga Writers Centre, CSU – Bathurst &
Wagga, ECU, SCU, Nth RiversWC, Broken Hill Regional
WC, Tas WC, SCWC, SAWC, Words out West, FAWWA, Australian Poetry, NWF &
KSP.
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://meusepress.tripod.com/apc.htm. This publicises both the host & the writers
participating.
EDITED/ORGANISED
Includes: Oceania rep World Poetry Movement, To End All Wars,
Rovers series, Guide to Sydney Rivers, Ambassador 1 over the 8th (Ind), AU/UA: Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine and
Australia (Krok,
2011 UA), From this Broken Hill
(Meuse, 2010), Guide to Sydney Beaches (Meuse,
2009). 2000 -2008 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 Hobo. 1993-2016
director of Island Press. 1992-1999 Artransit
Project. 1985 Musicians Union Band Guide. 1984-1997 to Sen
Industrial Officer Musicians Union & MEAA. 1990-93 Sec. NSWALP
Communications & Leisure Policy Committee. 1977-1981 Meuse Magazine,
supplements & anthologies. Part of Poets Union (NSW) original steering
committee, Jnt Sec./Treas. (1979-80), Fed Secretary
1983.
PRIZES
Won or
judged numerous prizes in Australia & elsewhere.
PUBLICATION IN MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS ETC.
1 over
the 8th (In), &, Above Ground Testing (Ca), Absinthe Literary
Review (US), Access, Afternoon (US), the Age, Alcubi Journal (US), Animist, Antipodean SF, Antipodes (US), Arena (Vic),
Arena (Mac. Uni), Ars Poetica, Artlook, Artransit, Artshub, Artsrush, Ascent (Ca), Australian, Australian Latino Press,
Australian Poetry Journal, Australian Reader, Australian Schools English
Competition, The Australian’s Review of Books, Australia Times, Avant Garde
Times (Can), Backstory, Bardflies, Bareknuckle, Barnwood
(US), Benzine (US), Between These Shores (UK), Big Bang, Big Bridge (US),
Blast, Blowback, Blue & Yellow Dog (US), Blue Dog, Blue Giraffe, Blue Nib, Blue
Pencil (US), Blue Pepper, Bonfire (UK), Broadkill
Review (US), Bukker Tillibul,
Bumf, Burrow, Canberra Times, Catalyst (NZ), Centoria,
Cha (HKSAR), Chaos Theory (US), Cherry Bleeds (US), China Business Daily (CN), Circulo de Poesia (MX), Compass,
Coffee Connection (UK), Colours (US), Communion (AU), Communion (US), Concelebratory Shoehorn Review (US), Conspire (US),
Contemporary Literary Review (IN), Contrapasso, Coppertales,
Cordite, Cottonmouth, Crack the Spine (US), Crannog (IE), Crosslines, Crux, Divan,
Dot Dot Dash, Eclecticism, Ecopoetics
(US), Elixir (YE), Elves, Enchanting Verses (IN), Embody (US), Essential
Poetry, Eureka St, Eye Socket Journal (US), Eye to the Telescope 2 (US), Famous
Reporter, Fekt (MK), Feministanbul
(TR), festivaldepoesiademedellin.org
(CO), $5 Freedom, Five Bells, foam:e, Forgetting is so Long, Four W, Free Xpression,
Fulcrum (US), Full of Crow (US), Funny Poets, Gangway(AT), Gargouille,
Gen Siir Festivali (TR), Going
Down Swinging, Gold Dust (UK), Grapple, Gravity (US), Great Works (UK), Grepoetry (US), Grey Sparrow (US), Hatbox, Heartland, Heritage
Light, Hermes, Hobo, Holland 1945, Homebrew, Hotchpotch, Idiom
23, Image, Imago, the Implosion (US), Indigo Rising (UK), Inklings, Inprint, Inquirer (PH), InsomAniac,
Int Human Rights Arts Festival (US), Island,
Ixion (UK), Jack (US), Jacket, Juked (US), Kangaroo, Ken*again (US), Killing
the Angel (US), Kurungabaa, La Voce dei Poeti (IT), Landscapes,
Leaves, Les Reves des Notre Ours (US), Linq, Lite Lit 1, Locus
Non Consequensia, loop (US), Lifted Brow, Lip service
Journal (US), Liquid Imagination (US), Lite Lit One, Livrespico
del Arte (US)Lone Star Magazine (US), Lost &Found
Quarterly (US), m.a.g. (US), Makar, Make Your Mark, Mandible
(US), Mannequin House (US), Mary, Mascara, Mattoid, Meanjin, Meatloaf
(US), Meniscus, Meuse, Melaleuca, Melic Review (US), Meniscus, Micropress Yates, Midwest Coast Review (US), Misfits
Miscellany (US), Moria (US), Moveable Type, Narrator,
Nepean Review, New England Review, Newcastle Herald, Newswrite,
Nod (CA), Northern Perspectives, nthposition (UK),
Numbat, Offset, onepoem.org (UA), Other Terrain, Otoliths, Over the Bridge,
Overland, Overlandexpress, OZpoet,
P76, Page 17, Panic Attack (CA), Pash Capsule,
Passing Show, Peepshow (UK), Perspective (US), Petrichor Review (US), Picton
Grange ¼ Review, Pifmagazine (US), Perfect Diary, Petrichor Review (US), Pixel
Papers, Plumwood Mountain, Poem & Dish, Poem Box
(US), Poem Niederngasse (CH), Poesia,
Poetas Siglo (ES), Poetry
at Sangam (IN), Poetry Book Club of Australia, Poetry Downunder, Poetryespresso, PoetryMagazine.com (US), Poetry Matters,
Poetry Monash, Poetry Pacific (CA), Polestar, Politiucs
& Prose in DC (US), Pool, Positive Words, Post Colonial
Text (FR), Predator of the Marvellous, Pressed, Pretty Owl (US), Private (It),
Prospect, psychic meatloaf (US), Quadrant,
Queen Anne’s Revenge (US), Quill & Ink (Ind), Real 8 View (US), Reality X (US), Red Room,
Redoubt, Regime, Remixt (US), Retreats From Oblivion
(US), Revue Brèves Littéraire
(CA), Right Hand Pointing (US), Right Now, Ripples, Riverrun, Road of Shadows (US), Rochford Review, Rust & Moth (US),
Salt Lick Quarterly, Scarp, SCOPP, Shades & Reflections (US), Shampoo (US),
Short & Twisted, Sidewalk, Siirden (SK), Silenced
Press (US), Six Seasons Review (BD), Sketch, Slipstream (US), Small Packages,
Smorgasbord (US), Snorkel (NZ), Social Alternatives, Softblow
(SG), Something Else, Southerly,
Southern Ocean Review (NZ), Spindrift, Springfield Gazette, Squidink, Stand (UK
),Stone Path Review (US), Stylus, Sugar Mule (US), Survision
(IE), Swyntax, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Mosaic, Takahe
(NZ), Tam Tam (IT), Tamba,
Tears in the Fence (UK), Text, Tharunka, The
Disappearing, The Last Real Poetry, The Stone Hobo (US), The Tablet, The Write
Angle, Theory of Everything, Thirst, Thunkbook (TW), Thylazine, Tincture, Tinfish
(US), Toasted Cheese (US), Tweed, Typehouse (US), Uluslararasi (TR), Unfurl, Union Recorder, Unusual Work,
Vehicle, VTV (VE), Vernacular, verb-ate-him, Verge, Verity La, Verse Land,
Verso, Verge, Voice (US), Vsesvit Review of World
Literature(UA), Wandering Dog (UK), Westerly, Wild(US), Windmills, Winning
Writers (US), Wonder Book, Woorilla, Word is Out,
Word Salad (US), Writ, Write Angle, Written in Sand, Your Friendly Fascist, yuryzavadsky (UA).
Anthologies: A Poet’s
Journey into Spin, A Poetry in S Dreaming (IT), Anthology of the Illawarra,
Antipodes, Ashbery Mode, Between These Shores (UK), Beyond
Borders (In), Contemporary Australian Poetry, Australian Love Poems, Australian
Poetry Anthology, Australian Poets for Peace, AU/UA Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine & Australia
(UA & AU), Best Australian Poems, Billabong (PL), Can I tell you a Secret?,
Cao Tang (CN),Capitals (IN), Caring for Country, Chair Poetry Series, Covidioms (IE), Dan Anthology 2017, Desde
Hong Kong, Earth Against Heaven , Embody, Extraterrestrial
Life (RO), Falling Angels, Feministabul Anthology (TR), First Australian Haiku
Anthology, Foliate Oak (US), Freshwater, from this Broken Hill, Genc Siir Festivali
(TR), Golden Wings (IN), Great American Poetry Show Vol2 (US), Guide to Sydney
Beaches, Guide to Sydney Rivers, Hidden Hands, I Can’t Breathe (KE), Il Respiro dell'Arte (IT), In Your
Hands, La Voce dei Poeti (IT),Light on Don Bank, Love in the Time of
Covid (NZ), Lviv International Literature Festival
Almanac (UA), Messages from the Embers, Metabolism, Mood Lightning, Moving Out Moving On, Musings During a Time
of Pandemic (KE), Notes for Translators (CH), Ocarina Anthology (IN), One
Minute To Midnight, Open Boat - Barbed Wire, Other Voices International Project
(US), Notes for the Translator, Poems in Perspex: Max Harris Poetry Award 2007,
Poetry & Place, Poetry from 5 Continents (MK), Poetry in Multicultural
Oceania (NZ), Poetry in S Dreaming (IT), Poets Choice (several years), Poets in
the Forest, Presence – Live Poets 30
years at Don Bank., Revista de Poesia
Prometeo (CO), Sand in our Souls – the Beach in
Australian Culture & History, Semaphore Dancing (PITP, 2009), Singing in
the Dark (IN), Social Images 1891-1991,Spirit of Self
expression, Sunlines, Ten Years
Live, Teratoid, The Argument from Desire, The Attitude of Cups, The Greenhouse, The Selected Your Friendly Fascist, The Stars Like Sand, Thylazine, To End All Wars , Tree Stone Sky Stream (CN), Turnstiles Review (US), 25
Australian Poets (Ca), UN Dialogue Among Civilisations Through Poetry,
Unexpected Visitor, Universal Oneness (IN), Vilenica
Almanac (SI), Version (RU), War & Peace, Wombats of Bundanon
– 20 Australian Poets (CN), Work by Australian Poets, World English Poetry (BD),
Writing the Pacific (FJ), Writing to the Wire.
Last update March 2021
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