Alison Croggon (born 1962) is a contemporary

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, and

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

Life and career

Born in the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

, South Africa, Alison Croggon's family moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

before settling in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, first in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

then

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. She has worked as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

''. Her first volume of poetry, ''This is the Stone'', won the

Anne Elder Award The Anne Elder Trust Fund Award for poetry was administered by the Victorian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers from its establishment in 1976 until 2017. From 2018 the award has been administered by Australian Poetry. It is awarded an ...

and the

Mary Gilmore Prize __NOTOC__ The Mary Gilmore Award is currently an annual Australian literary award for poetry, awarded by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Since being established in 1956 as the ACTU Dame Mary Gilmore Award, it has been awar ...

. Her novella ''Navigatio'' was highly commended in the 1995

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award ''The Australian''/Vogel Literary Award was an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money AUD$20,000, was the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in Austra ...

. Four novels of the fantasy

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

series '' Pellinor'' have been published. She also founded and edits the online writing magazine ''Masthead'' and writes

theatre criticism Theatre criticism is a genre of arts criticism, and the act of writing or speaking about the performing arts such as a play or opera. Theatre criticism is distinct from drama criticism, as the latter is a division of literary criticism whereas th ...

. Croggon has also written

libretti A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

for Michael Smetanin's operas ''Gauguin: A Synthetic Life'' and ''The Burrow'', which premiered respectively at the 2000

Melbourne Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

and

Perth Festival Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...

, produced by ChamberMade. In 2014,

Iain Grandage Iain Andrew Grandage is an Australian composer and music director, best known for his compositions for theatre, dance and concert. In May 2018, the Perth Festival appointed Grandage as artistic director. Early life Grandage initially lived in B ...

(composer) and Croggon (librettist) collaborated to present ''The Riders'', based on

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the ...

's novel ''

The Riders ''The Riders'' (1994) is a novel by Australian author Tim Winton published in 1994. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995. Plot summary ''The Riders'' tells the story of an Australian man, Fred Scully, and his seven-year-old daughte ...

''. Its world premiere was in Melbourne. Other poems by Croggon have been set to music by Smetanin, Christine McCombe, Margaret Legge-Wilkinson, and Andrée Greenwell. Her plays have been produced by the

, The Red Shed Company (

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

) and ABC Radio. As of 2023, she is arts editor at ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since i ...

''. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband

Daniel Keene Daniel Keene (born 1955) is an Australian playwright whose work has been performed throughout the world. Career Keene's plays have been performed in Australia, France, Poland and the United States. Many of his plays have been published in Fr ...

and three children.

Awards and nominations

* 2009

Pascall Prize The Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism, formerly known as the Pascall Prize and then the Walkley-Pascall Award or Walkley-Pascall Award for Arts Criticism, is one of two annual Walkley Arts Journalism prizes awarded by the Walkley Foundation. The p ...

for Critical Writing for her

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

''Theatre Notes''. * 2023 shortlisted for NSW Premier's Translation Prize for ''Duino Elegies''.

Works

Poetry

* * * *
excerpt
* * * * *

Memoir

* ''Monsters: A reckoning''. Scribe. 2021.

Novella

Fantasy novels

The Books of Pellinor

* (published in the US as ''The Naming'' (Candlewick Press, ) * * * * (Cadvan's Story: Prequel to the Books of Pellinor)

Standalone

* *

Libretti

* (1995) ''The Burrow'', * (2000) ''Gauguin (a synthetic life)'' * (2014) ''The Riders''

Plays

* ''Monologues for an Apocalypse'' (2000) * ''Blue'' (2001) * ''My Dearworthy Darling'' (2019)

References

External links