Beatriz Copello is an Australian writer, poet, playwright and psychologist. Her fiction and poetry has been published in Australia and overseas, in literary journals such as ''

Southerly Southerly may refer to: * Southerly (band), American rock group of the 2000s * Southerly (journal), Australian literary magazine * Southerly, Devon, a location in England * Southerly buster A southerly buster is the colloquial name of an abr ...

'' and ''Australian Women's Book Review'', and in several anthologies and feminist publications. Her poems have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Polish and Chinese. She is the recipient of several prizes, including a first prize at the 2000

Sydney Writers' Festival The Sydney Writers' Festival (SWF) is an annual literary festival held in Sydney in May, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. History The festival began in Jan ...

. Her book of lesbian poetry ''Women Souls and Shadows'' is her best-known work.

Career

Copello was born in Argentina, but emigrated to Australia in the 1970s. She obtained a degree in Communications from the

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...

in 1989 and an MA in English (

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

) from

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in 1996. In 2003 Copello received a Doctorate of Creative Arts (Creative Writing) from the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

. She received an Emerging Writers Grant for Poetry from the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

Literature Fund in November 1996 and an Ian Reed Foundation Scholarship to study radio drama writing at the Australian Film Television & Radio School in 1998. Her play ''Malinche's Fire'' was performed at

Belvoir St Theatre Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Its artistic director is Eamon Flack. The theatre comprises two performing spaces: the Upstairs Theatre and the small ...

and was selected to be read at the International Women's Playwright Conference in Athens, Greece, in 2000. Aside from ''Women Souls and Shadows'', she has published three other books of poetry: ''Meditations at the Edge of a Dream'', ''Under the Gums' Long Shade'' and ''Lo Irrevocable del Halcon''. As said by Magdalena Ball in her review: "Beatriz Copello’s ''Under the Gums' Long Shade'' is a beautifully written, tender collection full of rich moments. It travels along a very national route, exploring the Australian terrain, and then moves outward to a place that encompasses all of humanity." Copello has been invited to read her poetry in Argentina, Italy, Spain, United States and Indonesia. Her novel ''A Call to the Stars'' was translated into Chinese. Copello co-organized several writers' conferences and has been part of the jury in ten literary competitions. She presented twelve literary papers at various conferences and seminars in Australia and abroad. As an editor, she worked with many authors and edited five anthologies and three books of poetry. One book entitled Evasion/Evasion by Carmen Novoa received praise for Beatriz's translation from Spanish to English in a review from

Glenda Guest Glenda Guest is an Australian novelist. Her novel, '' Siddon Rock'', won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best First Novel. Life She grew up in Bruce Rock, Western Australia, but left that state when she was in her early 20s moving, first, ...

. She has held 25 writing and publishing workshops since 1993. She wrote reviews about dozens of authors, from Marques to Gaarder, and articles on festivals, exhibitions, dance and theatre shows. Her abstract paintings were exhibited in 2014 together with the works of three other Australian women originating from South America. Copello is the recipient of several prizes, including First Prize in the

"Tell Your Story" competition in 2000, with a performance poetry piece.

Awards and mentions

* Highly commended for ''Women, Souls and Shadows'' at the Xerox Fast Books Award, Wild and Wolley, 1993 * First prize for the short story ''Scale'' at Taylor Square Arts Festival in 1995 * Finalist certificate for the short story ''Hope'' in the NSW PAVE Literary Competition, 1997 * First prize in the 2000 Sydney Writers Festival Pitching Literary Competition * Premio Internacional Una Poesia por La Vida/International Competition A Poem For Life, Edizione Universum, Italy, 2003 * Highly commended for the poem ''Cervantes'', Spanish Society, Sydney 2003 * Second prize for the short story ''La Calma del Regreso'', Argentinian Cultural Club, 2012 * First prize for the short story ''Aritmomania'', Literary Group Palabras, 2013

Works

Poetry

*''Women, Souls And Shadows'', Bemac Publications, Sydney, 1992 *''Meditations At The Edge Of A Dream'', Glass House Books, Interactive Publications, Sydney, 2001 *''Under the Gums’ Long Shade'', Bemac Publications, Sydney, 2008 *''Lo Irrevocable del Halcon'', Bemac Publications, 2013 *

Fiction

*''Forbidden Steps Under The Wisteria'', Abbott Bentley, Pty Ltd., Sydney, June 1999 *''A Call To The Stars'' (translated into Chinese), Crown Publishing Company Ltd, Taiwan, June 1999 *''The Book Of Jeremiah'', published by Ginninderra Press, Australia, December 2024

Short stories

*''Lesbian Love Lesbian Stories'', a short story collection at Amazon Kindle, 2014 *''Rainbow of Love'', Cyberwit.net, 2023

Translations

*''Evasion/Evasion'', by Carmen Novoa and translated Spanish to English by Beatriz Copello, Earlwood : Bemac Publications, 2004 selected work poetry

Plays

*''Malinche's Fire'', 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copello, Beatriz Australian women novelists Australian women poets Australian women short story writers Australian dramatists and playwrights Argentine emigrants to Australia 1942 births Living people University of Technology Sydney alumni