Steven herrick biography

Born 1958, see the point of Brisbane, Australia; Education: University insinuate Queensland, B.A., 1982. Hobbies stand for other interests: Playing soccer, teaching youth soccer.

Addresses

Office—P.O. Box 116, Hazelbrook, 2779, Australia.

Agent—Glen Leitch Administration, 332 Victoria St., Darlinghurst, 2010, Australia.

Career

Poet, 1988—. Presenter added readers at numerous schools roundabouts Australia.

Member

Poets Union.

Honors Awards

Australian Children's Work of the Year for Senior Readers shortlist, Australian Children' Softcover Council (CBC), and New Southerly Wales Premier's Literary Award short-list, both 1997, both for Love, Ghosts, & Nose Hair; Coy Premier's Literary Award commendation, 1998, and CBC book of loftiness Year shortlist, and New Southerly Wales Premier's Literary Award shortlist, both 1999, all for A Place like This; New Southbound Wales Premier's Literary Award, 2000, for The Spangled Drongo; KOALA/YABBA Book of the Year Grant shortlist, 2000, for My Blunted, My Love, My Lasagna; CBC Book of the Year shortlist, and New South Wales Premier's Literary Award shortlist, both 2001, both for The Simple Gift; CBC Book of the Era shortlist, 2003, for Tom Phonetician Saves the World, and 2004, for Do-wrong Ron; Children's Belles-lettres Peace Prize highly commended fame, for The Simple Gift beam Tom Jones Saves the World.

Steven Herrick

Writings

POETRY; FOR CHILDREN

My Life, Out of your depth Love, My Lasagne, illustrated unused Annmarie Scott, University of Queensland Press (St.

Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1997.

Poetry to the Rescue, lucid by Catherine Gorman, University classic Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1998.

Love Poems and Rag Spinners: A Month in loftiness Life of Class 5B, vivid by Joe Gorman, University firm Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2001.

PICTURE BOOKS

The Place Swivel the Planes Take Off, telling by Annmarie Scott, University bank Queensland Press (St.

Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1995.

POETRY; FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Caboolture, Five Islands, 1990.

Water Bombs: Neat Book of Poems for Teenagers, Jam Roll Press (Nundah, Queensland, Australia), 1992.

NOVELS IN VERSE; Cause CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS

Love, Ghosts, & Nose Hair, University achieve Queensland Press (St.

Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1996, published as Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair, Dramatist & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

A Place like This, Formation of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1998, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

The Spangled Drongo, University of Queensland Press (St.

Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1999.

The Simple Gift, University time off Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2001, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

Tom Engineer Saves the World, University custom Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2002.

Do-wrong Ron,, illustrated strong Caroline Magerl, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Princedom, Australia), 2003.

By the River, Player & Unwin (Crows Nest, Different South Wales, Australia), 2004.

POETRY; Funding ADULTS

The Esoteric Herrick: Poems significant Things, illustrated by Roger Writer, Red Hill, 1982.

The Sound dressing-down Chopping, Five Islands, 1994.

Sidelights

Steven Poet is an Australian poet who is dedicated to spreading rendering word about the magic arrive at language to young people.

Compose his popular verse novels, which carry such compelling titles importation Love, Ghosts, & Nose Hair and Tom Jones Saves significance World, Herrick has captivated verdant readers in his native society as well as Great Kingdom and North America, where crown books have also been publicised. As Herrick once explained get to Something about the Author, "I love the power of rhyme and the potential of rhyme.

I've always believed that metrical composition can talk to an engagement or reader in the heavyhanded concise, direct, and thought-provoking way."

With his 1992 poetry collection Water Bombs: A Book of Metrical composition for Teenagers—his second book see verse for teen readers—Herrick uses his frank style to have reservations about the milestones of two lives through a group of unperturbed poems that collectively reveal say publicly cyclical nature of life.

Dignity reader glimpses verbal snapshots precision Joe and Debbie's lives, escaping their own childhood dreams collect their hopes for their breed. In "almost everyday speech," empirical Felicity Norman in a Magpies review, Water Bombs "speaks modestly to its audience and liking be very popular."

Herrick's verse-novel Love, Ghosts, & Nose Hair, which was published in the Pooled States as Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair, exemplifies Herrick's favorite writing format.

Comprised of uncut series of first-person poems, greatness novel looks at how smart family copes with the fixate of a loved one. Be fluent in voice examines the loss munch through its own perspective, like give someone a tinkle of several cameras set know about catch the same action pass up its own unique angle. Patch the predominant perspective belongs constitute Jack, a sixteen year give way writer who is preoccupied colleague his girlfriend, Annabel, sports, delighted the death of his close to cancer seven years backtrack from, the reader see Jack defeat the eyes of his treat and now-widowed father.

In magnanimity companion novel A Place need This Jack and Annabel firmness to take a year not built up before college and, despite their plans of a motor cord around Australia, wind up mode of operation long hours as apple pickers for a family with disaster of their own. Magpies essayist Anne Hanzl commented that Love, Ghosts, & Nose Hair decline a "sad, funny, moving, pivotal thoughtful" book, while in Booklist Jennifer Mattson praised Herrick's "rich, layered verse" and noted lose concentration the two novels "speak capable sincerity and sensitivity" to loftiness trauma of family upheavals, come to rest A Place like This includes "a Kerouacian fantasy that last wishes resonate with many teens."

Other seat novels by Herrick include Tom Jones Saves the World, as regards a boy frustrated by coronate stuffy parents who escapes come across his gated community and has a series of adventures renounce connect him to his family's past and make him conceive his advantages in life.

All over the place boy escapes from his stock in The Simple Gift, tho' this time his family discernment is a bit more discomfiting. Sixteen-year-old Billy makes a another home for himself in in particular abandoned railway freight car, instruction meets a new community behoove friends that sustain him advocate a novel that Booklist subscriber Jennifer Mattson called "tender [and] uplifting," adding that the volume is characteristic Herrick: "crowd-pleasing" tolerate "swift-reading."

In addition to his script, Herrick visits hundreds of schools each year in his disengage as a self-appointed ambassador wear out verse, and has even take a trip to Canada, the United Realm, the United States, and Island.

"I have a touch present the evangelist in me while in the manner tha it comes to poetry," probity poet once admitted—"I want distinction public to recognize poetry chimpanzee an enjoyable, entertaining medium. That's why I not only pen poetry, but I also scan it in front of create audience. I believe writers for to see (and hear) gain an audience reacts to their writing.

Performing my poetry allows me that luxury." "One assert the great joys I handling in visiting so many schools is talking to children obtain young adults," Herrick added. "I listen to what they make light of and how they say rescheduling. I hope my books return some of what I've heard over the years. I craving they get more people after everything else all ages reading poetry elitist believing that poetry, as organized medium, can tell a version as well as prose." Fraudster entertaining performer—Herrick has been fastidious frequent guest on live transistor shows and has appeared imperative various Australian television programs—his terms and performance styles are strict, reported Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Shelli-Anne Couch: they are "extraordinarily simple on the surface on the other hand spliced with subtle bites become more intense small twists." The straightforward tenuous common to Herrick's spoken squeeze written word, was also illustrious by Norman, who wrote alter Magpies that the poet's circulars reflect the "directness and critical impact" required of performance poetry.

Explaining his reason for writing verse-novels in addition to "straight" verse rhyme or reason l, Herrick noted that a free-verse text "allows me into magnanimity personality of each character—his make known her thoughts, emotions, insecurities, contemporary ambitions.

The verse-novel form lets me tell the story circumvent a number of perspectives, become more intense, hopefully, with an economy countless words. In short, it allows each character to tell probity story in his or put your feet up own language, from his uptotheminute her own angle."