Archived News Items: Oct - Dec 2005

Congratulations to Catherine Carr from the School of Art and Design awarded the University Medal for the Faculty of Creative Arts this year.

Catherine Carr has combined a very innovative painting practice with an outstanding record of scholarship in art theory. Her Honours thesis investigated little understood aspects of Rover Thomas' painting, the famous Aboriginal artist from the Kimberleys who represented Australia in the Venice Biennale in 1990. Catherine went to the Kimberleys during her Honours year to research her topic deeply. Her own painting expresses the multiple perspectives and vivid colours of that inland desert landscape, She achieved a high commendation from her examiners in both theory and art practice.

Another literary accolade for The Lovemakers
Not for decades has a collection of Australian poetry won the prestigious Colin Roderick Award for the best book published in Australia.

However the University of Wollongong’s Mr Alan Wearne from the Faculty of Creative Arts has changed that with the second volume of his verse novel The Lovemakers (‘Money and Nothing’), which is centered around the interconnected lives of a number of Australian people between 1960 and 1990.

The Colin Roderick Award, established in 1967, is the principle award of the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies within James Cook University,Townsville.

The $10,000 prize is awarded annually for the best book published in Australia, which deals with any aspect of Australian life including fiction, history, autobiography or poetry. The award honours the late Colin Roderick who was an eminent literary scholar, the first Professor of English at James Cook University and the person who established the Foundation of Literary Studies.

This year the award is being shared for the first time between Mr Wearne and popular Australian author, Tim Winton.

Mr Wearne has been part of the Australian poetry scene since the late sixties and is the author of Public Relations, New Devil, New Parish, Out Here, (a verse novella), the award winning verse novel The Nightmarkets (which has also been adapted for the stage) and Kicking in Danger (a fantasy satire on Melbourne's football). Volume 1 of The Lovemakers was launched in 2001, together with a CD of selections read by the author.

The first volume won the NSW Premiers Prize for Poetry and Book of the Year in 2002. It also won The Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award for Poetry, an award presented annually for the best collection of poetry by an Australian author.

The Lovemakers, in its entirety, explores the inner and outer tensions of families and society. The rituals of home extensions, weddings and public-service career paths are covered in Book 1 and the world of big business, the sex industry and the drug trade in Book 2.

“Much of the novel is propelled by voice and voices and readers should be prepared for many characters to step forward and address them directly,” said Allan.

“My novel can best be explained as an interconnected verse narrative. I wrote the collection in the hope that it would be thoroughly enjoyed, capture the imagination of its readers and be more than just a piece of social history.”

Allan Wearne and Tim Winton received the award last night in Townsville, QLD.

For further information contact Mr Wearne on 0422 305 780.

Story and image from UoW Media page

Black Hands/Dead Section is about a faction of the student movement in West Germany in the 1960’s who waged an armed campaign against the state following the brutal harassment, beatings and shootings of anti-Vietnam War student protestors by police.

The play recently received the prestigious QLD Premier’s Literary Award for Drama worth $15,000. The award offers established and aspiring authors the opportunity to gain recognition in the literary industry as well as providing financial assistance to support the development of high quality writing. The award is one of many for the Wollongong playwright, who spends 9 months of each year living and working in England. She was also recently named Best Playwright on the London Fringe – marking her as one of the most exciting emerging talents in British theatre.

“It's wonderful to have the opportunity to win this latest award, and an enormous boost to my career,” she said. “The Queensland Premier's Award is one of the few awards that allows Australian writers to enter work that has been developed overseas - usually, the play must premiere in Australia.”

Black Hands/Dead Section revolves around a student group who were labelled the ‘Baader-Meinhof’ gang. The group’s armed campaign against police included burning down department stores, staging bank robberies, bombing US army bases and kidnapping prominent citizens. They were eventually caught, tortured in prison, unfairly tried and many died in jail in highly suspicious circumstances.

“Germans who lived through that period are still very traumatised by their personal and cultural memories of the divisions in the student movement caused by the gang's radicalism and the sad fate of the leadership -- very few of whom survived,” said Van.

“My aim in writing the play was, simply, to paint terrorism white. I wanted to demystify and contextualise the political circumstances that universally create terrorists. I wanted to challenge the popular mythology that terrorism is a 9/11 phenomenon, and do it by relating a true and historical story from the very recent past with characters whose backgrounds Western audiences would find familiar.”

"The play was a commission from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), with the challenging and unusual brief to write a play for 30 graduating student actors. LAMDA scouted me for the commission as a result of seeing my play Camarilla at the Edinburgh Festival in 2003.”

The judging panel described Van’s play as ‘outstanding writing with an epic range, a complexity of vision and a balance of mood and emotion’ and said she was a ‘voice pushing theatre out of the drawing room smallness of recent plays and tackling the great themes’.

For more information: Contact Van Badham by e-mail: portablevanland@lycos.com

Photos of the play are available from the LAMDA by e-mailing: jonathan.maydew@lamda.org.uk

Story from UoW Media page
http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/2005/1013a.html

Putting pen to paper pays off for students

The competition was run in conjunction with Book Week 2005 and entrants were divided into three age categories of Young Adult, Youth and Under 6.

“The project grew from the 'Writer and the Media' course in the Faculty of Journalism and Writing at UOW,” said Jacqueline.

“While other fellow students wished to promote Creative Arts on an adult level, we wanted to give young children a chance to pursue their writing dreams.”

“The support from the community was amazing,” Jessica said. “We even had teachers getting their entire class to enter. We were so impressed with all the entries we received we thought we should add 'highly commended' and 'encouragement' awards.

The awards presentation was held at the Wollongong City Gallery.

Story and image from UoW Media page
http://media.uow.edu.au/news/2005/0923a/index.html#

Last reviewed: 15 April, 2008