Emily Ballou is an Australian-American poet, novelist and screenwriter. Her poetry collection ''The Darwin Poems'', a verse portrait of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, was published by University of Western Australia Press in 2009.Award-winning book of poetry shortlisted for national award , University News : University News : The University of Western Australia
News.uwa.edu.au (2010-06-17). Retrieved on 2010-11-22. It was written as part of an Australia Council for the Arts residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town ...

, Ireland.Poetry – 2010 – Poetica – Subjects A-Z
Abc.net.au. Retrieved on 2010-11-22.

Background

Emily Ballou was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. She studied Film and English at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, graduating with a Bachelor in Fine Arts with Honours and completed a Master of Letters in Gender and Cultural Studies at the

University of Sydney 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 ...

. She subsequently immigrated to Australia. She now lives in

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Career

She wrote the "Anouk" and "Aisha" episodes of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's television mini-series '' The Slap'', the original adaptation of

Christos Tsiolkas Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for '' The Slap'', which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and t ...

' novel of the same name, which won the 2012 AWGIE Awards for Television Mini-Series (Adaptation). It was aired in the UK on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

and nominated for a Royal Television Society Programme Award, a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Award and an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

. Ballou has also written episodes of

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

/ FX ''

Taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

'',

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

/ AMC '' Humans'', BBC One's '' Case Histories'' (series 2, "Nobody's Darling"), ITV's '' Scott & Bailey'',

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

's TV movie ''American Blackout'', co-written with Ewan Morrison, and ''Family'', directed by

Shaun Gladwell Shaun Gladwell (born 1972) is an Australian contemporary artist whose work spans moving image, painting, photography, sculpture, installation, performance and virtual reality. Early life Gladwell was born in Sydney in 1972 and graduated from Syd ...

in the anthology film '' The Turning'', adapted from

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 book of short stories and screened in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the

64th Berlin International Film Festival The 64th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 6 to 16 February 2014. Wes Anderson's film ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' opened the festival. British film director Ken Loach was presented with the Golden Bear#Golden Bear .E2.80. ...

. Her television series '' One Night'' started filming in February 2023. She is also the author of the novels ''Father Lands'' ( Picador, 2002)Next stop after the comfort zone
smh.com.au (2002-12-21). Retrieved on 2010-11-22. and ''Aphelion'' (Picador , 2007), as well as the picture book ''One Blue Sock'' (

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, 2007) (with illustrations by Stephen Michael King).

Awards and nominations

* 1997 – Judith Wright Award for Poetry for the poem "Enter" * 2003 – ''

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

'' Best Young Novelist for ''Father Lands''The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: Entertainment
. Blogs.smh.com.au. Retrieved on 2010-11-22. * *2009 – Anne Elder Award: Highly Commended for ''The Darwin Poems'' *2009 – Wesley Michel Wright Prize for ''The Darwin Poems'' * * 2010 – ALS Gold Medal: Shortlisted for ''The Darwin Poems'' * 2010 – Mary Gilmore Prize: Shortlisted for ''The Darwin Poems'' * 2010 – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards: Shortlisted for ''The Darwin Poems''Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry – NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2011
. Pla.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved on 2010-11-22. * 2010 – Western Australian Premier's Book Awards: Shortlisted for ''The Darwin Poems''Western Australian Premier's Book Awards: State Library of Western Australia
. Slwa.wa.gov.au. Retrieved on 2010-11-22.

Bibliography

Books

* * Illust Stephen Michael King. * *

Anthologies

*2008 – "On the Splice", ''Best Australian Short Stories''Falconer, D (ed.) (2008). "On the Splice", ''Best Australian Short Stories'', Black Inc., . *2009 – "Here Is a Hair from Her Head", ''Best Australian Short Stories''Falconer, D (ed.) (2009). "Here is a Hair From Her Head", ''Best Australian Short Stories'', Black Inc., . *2010 – "Darwin as Metaphor", ''Journal 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century'', Birkbeck: University of London, No. 11, pp. 1–17.No 11 (2010)
. 19.bbk.ac.uk. Retrieved on 2010-11-22. *2010 – "The Beach", ''The Penguin Book of the Ocean''Bradley, J (ed.) (2010). "The Beach", ''The Penguin Book of the Ocean'', Penguin Australia,

References

External links

*
Emily Ballou interviewed for the Darwin Correspondence Project

Emily Ballou "Darwin as Metaphor", Journal 19

* ttp://thirdcoastdigest.com/2010/08/podcast-the-darwin-poems/ Emily Ballou interviewed by Mark Metcalf, Aug 19th, 2010
"Darwin's Noah" on YouTube

Emily Ballou reads "The Kite", The Red Room Company

Emily Ballou interviewed by Magdalena Ball for The Compulsive Reader

Emily Ballou interviews Hanif Kureshi for The Australian Magazine, Nov 15th, 2008

Emily Ballou "Twenty Questions for the Nation", New Matilda, May 1, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballou, Emily Living people University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American poets American women novelists American television producers American women television writers American television writers Novelists from Wisconsin 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers