Les Wicks
| Les Wicks | |
|---|---|
| Born |
15 June 1955 Sydney, New South Wales |
| Occupation | Poet, publisher, editor, workshop coordinator |
| Known for | Poetry |
| Website | http://leswicks.tripod.com/lw.htm |
Les Wicks (born 15 June 1955) is an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He has a long list of achievements in writing, publishing and broadcasting. This includes the publication of twelve books of poetry.
Early life and education
Wicks grew up in western suburbs Sydney.
Wicks studied a Bachelor of Arts in History over some years at Macquarie University as well as worked a variety of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs while living in Sydney and London.
In the late 1970s, he embarked on his first publishing exercise – Meuse publications (with Bill Farrow) which was a high-water mark in Australian poetry publishing with its cutting edge mix of text and graphics. He helped set up the Poets Union in NSW. From the 1980s, he worked as a union industrial advocate for a number of Unions after obtaining a Graduate Diploma in Industrial Law from the University of Sydney.
Literary career
He has been a guest at most of Australia's literary festivals, toured widely and been published in over 350 different newspapers, anthologies and magazines across 24 countries in 12 languages. During September/October 2006, Les Wicks was a guest of the Festival International de la Poesie in Quebec, Canada. In 2011 he was the 1st Australian guest at the International Literary Festival, Lviv, Ukraine. 2013 saw him as a guest at the International Poetry Festival of Medellin. 2014 he performed in Delhi World Poetry Festival, LA – Beyond Baroque, Austin International Poetry Festival & Struga Poetry Evenings. 2015 saw him performing at Festival Internacional de Poesía, Granada Nicaragua & International Poetry Festival Istanbul.
2016 saw publication of Getting By Not fitting In ( Island Press (Australia), 2016) El Asombrado" (Rochford St, 2015) is his 12th title, a selection of poems from the previous 15 years in Spanish and English (translated by G Leogena).
Wicks' 11th title has enjoyed critical attention. Sea of Heartbeak (Unexpected Resilience) ( Puncher & Wattmann, 2013) has many, often personal, dark moments but has a core focus of hope."... 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 "...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
Barking Wings (PressPress, 2012) is assertive. Mark Roberts wrote "...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". Shadows of the Read was published in 2011 (Krok) featuring work in both English & Ukrainian.
His fifth book of poems, The Ways of Waves (Sidewalk, 2000) celebrates the Australian summer. Number six, Appetites of Light (PressPress, 2002), is an exploration of the qualities of light, while the seventh takes readers to "peopled landscapes"... Stories of the Feet (Five Islands, 2004). The Ambrosiacs (Island Press (Australia), 2009) concerns “endings”- an elegy - from ecology under stress to the loss of close friends. Wicks explores a sequence of endpoints: spiritual exploration, suburbia, rural escapes and travel...all with his typical raw honesty, humour and rage. A startling, and ultimately affirming picture of generations and lives. Joanne Burns writes of "the Ambrosiacs" "…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…". Much of the work in later books features what Wicks describes as "this waterwall, an alluvion". Through building layers of proposition, assertion, voice & imagery a broader picture is created.
Stylistically, he spans both a vernacular performance poetry and more linguistically dense, often dark explorations. He is hard hitting and humorous.
Other projects include publishing and editing poetry outreach like Artransit which put poetry and art into Sydney & Newcastle (NSW) buses and Heritage Light which saw a poem published on the surface of the Parramatta River. E-books have explored Sydney beaches & Broken Hill through words & photography. In association with Krok Publishing the first anthology of contemporary Ukrainian & Australian poets in English & Ukrainian was published - AU/UA: Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine and Australia. He runs workshop programs across Australia called Plan to Be Published & Intense.
Awards
- Nominated - 1980 Pushcart Press: Best of the Little Presses (US)
- Shortlisted - 2015 Overland NUW competeition. 2011 War Poetry Competition, Newcastle Poetry Prize
- Highly Commended - 2007 Broken Hill Poetry Competition, 2005 Vera Newsom Poetry Award, 1998 Poetry Book Club of Australia
- Winner - 2014 Struga International Wine Poetry Prize. 1997 Lake Pedder Competition, 1984 University of Sydney Union Literary Competition
- Judge: includes 2011, 2008 chair NSW Premier’s (Kenneth Slessor) Poetry Prize, 2001 judge Slessor & chair Community Affairs Commission Prize.The Blake Poetry Prize 2010, 2010 Tom Collins Poetry Prize, 2001, 2001 Leichhardt Performance Poetry,1995-1999 Sports/Olympic Poetry Competition
Selected bibliography
- The Vanguard Sleeps In (Glandular, 1981)
- Cannibals (Rochford Street Press, 1985)
- Tickle (Island Press (Australia), 1993)
- Nitty Gritty (Five Islands, 1997)
- The Ways of Waves (Sidewalk, 2000)
- Appetites of Light (Presspress, 2002)
- Stories of the Feet (Five Islands, 2004)
- The Ambrosiacs (Island Press (Australia), 2009)
- Shadows of the Read (Krok, 2011), 2011) English/Ukrainian
- Barking Wings (PressPress, 2012), 2012)
- Sea of Heartbeak (Unexpected Resilience) ( Puncher & Wattmann, 2013)
- El Asombrado (On-line ebook) ( Rochford Street Press, 2015) English/Spanish
- Getting By Not Fitting In (Island Press (Australia), 2016)
As editor/co-editor or organised
- 2015 *Guide to Sydney Rivers Meuse Press
- 2011 "AU/UA: Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine and Australia" (Krok, 2011) Meuse Press
- 2010 "from this Broken Hill" Meuse Press
- 2009 *Guide to Sydney Beaches Meuse Press
- 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 Meuse Press.
- 1999-2000 editor of Hobo.
- 1993 to date director of Island Press.
- 1992-1999 Artransit Project Meuse Press.
- 1985 Musicians Union Band Guide. 1978.
- 1984-1997 to Senior Industrial Officer Musicians Union & Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance.
- 1990-93 Sec. NSW ALP Communications & Leisure Policy Committee. –
- 1977-1981 Meuse Press Magazine, supplements & anthologies.
- Part of Poets Union (NSW) original steering committee, Jnt Sec./Treas. (1979–80), Federal Secretary 1983.
Notes
References
- Australian Artists & Writers Directory Les Wicks - Biographical Note
- Directory of Australian Poets 1980 Poets Union
- Guide to Sydney Beaches
- from this Broken Hill
- Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medellin