John Ernest Tranter (29 April 1943 – 21 April 2023) was an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He published more than twenty books of poetry; devising, with Jan Garrett, the long running ABC radio program ''Books and Writing''; and founding in 1997 the internet quarterly literary magazine ''

Jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. Jackets without sleeves are vests. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and ...

'' which he published and edited until 2010, when he gave it to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. 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 ...

awarded him a Creative Arts Fellowship in 1990; some Australian poets "acknowledge his role as innovator and experimentalist".

Life

Tranter was born in

Cooma, New South Wales Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina. ...

and attended country schools, then took his BA in 1970 after attending university sporadically. He worked mainly in publishing, teaching and radio production, and has travelled widely, making more than twenty reading tours to venues in the United States, in Britain and Europe since the mid-1980s. He lived in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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 ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in Australia, and overseas in London,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Singapore, Florida, and San Francisco. He spent most of his life in Sydney, where he was a company director (with his wife Lyn) of Australian Literary Management, a leading literary agency. He was married to Lyn, with adult children Kirsten and Leon, and in 2009 completed a Doctorate of Creative Arts

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 ...

(conferred, highly commended). Tranter died on 21 April 2023, at the age of 79.

Literary career

In 1975, Tranter co-designed the first ''Books & Writing'' radio program for 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 ...

, a program format which was still going strong thirty years later. During 1987 and 1988, he was the executive producer in charge of the ABC Radio National weekly two-hour arts program ''Radio Helicon'', and from 1990 to 1993 he was the poetry editor of '' The Bulletin'', the venerable Australian weekly magazine of politics, business, and the arts. Tranter received many fellowships and other grants, and had been a visiting scholar at various institutions, from visiting fellow in the Faculty of Arts at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

to writer-in-residence at

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

in Winter Park, Florida and at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in England. He published over twenty volumes of poetry, including ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' (University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2006) and ''Starlight: 150 Poems'' (University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2010). His ''Starlight: 150 Poems'', published by the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

Press, won the Queensland State Literary Award for poetry and the Age Book of the Year award for poetry in 2011, and ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'', published by the

Press, won the Victorian Premier's Prize for poetry in 2006, the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize in 2007, the South Australian Premier's Awards John Bray prize for poetry in 2008 and the South Australian Premier's Awards Premier's Prize for the best book overall (2006 and 2007) in 2008. His ''Under Berlin'', published by the

Press, won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry (the New South Wales State Literary Award for Poetry) in 1989, and ''At The Florida'' won the Melbourne Age 'Book of the Year' award for poetry in 1993. Other recent books are ''The Floor of Heaven'' (Harper Collins, 1992), a book-length sequence of four verse narratives, the poetry collections ''Late Night Radio'' (Polygon,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, UK, 1998), ''Heart Print'' (Salt, Cambridge, UK, 2001), ''Different Hands'' (Folio/ Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Cambridge and Western Australia, 1998), a collection of seven experimental computer-assisted prose pieces, ''Borrowed Voices'' (Shoestring Press, Nottingham, 2002), a dozen reinterpretations of poems by other poets, ''Studio Moon'' and ''Trio'' (both Salt Publications, UK, 2003). Tranter compiled and edited '' The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry'' with Philip Mead in 1991. Earlier anthologies include the controversial ''The New Australian Poetry'' (Makar, Brisbane, 1979), and a selection of ninety-four poems from the Australian bicentennial poetry competition in 1988, published by ABC Books as ''The Tin Wash Dish''. In 2004 he built a free prototype internet site that presented biographical and bibliographical information about over seventy Australian poets as well as poems, book reviews and interviews. In 2005 he handed the project over to a consortium consisting of 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 ...

English Department, the University of Sydney Library and the Copyright Agency Limited. In 2006 the consortium was granted half a million dollars by the Australian Research Council to further extend the work as a research project as the Australian Poetry Library with an internet site hosted by the University of Sydney Library. The project was launched at State Government House, Sydney, on 25 May 2011, by which time it featured over 42,000 poems by Australian poets from 1800 to the present. In 2014 John Tranter founded the ''Journal of Poetics Research'' with three other Managing Editors: Dr Kate Lilley, University of Sydney; Dr Ann Vickery,

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

; and Professor Philip Mead,

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

; and some thirty other (mostly international) editors. The first (free) issue was published at the end of September 2014, and two issues per year, in March and September, were planned at that time.

Awards

* 2011: Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a poetry collection for ''Starlight: 150 Poems'' * 2011: The Age Book of the Year Award for Poetry for ''Starlight: 150 Poems'' * 2009: Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (six-week residency in Umbria) * 2008: South Australian Premier's Awards Premier's Prize for the best book overall 2006 and 2007 for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 2008: South Australian Premier's Awards John Bray prize for poetry for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 2007:

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...

Kenneth Slessor Prize for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 2006: Victorian Premier's Literary Award C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry Prize for ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'' * 1993: The Age Book of the Year Award for Poetry for ''At the Florida'' * 1993: Wesley Michel Wright Prize for Poetry for ''The Floor of Heaven'' * 1989:

Kenneth Slessor Prize for ''Under Berlin'' * 1988:

Grace Leven Prize for Poetry The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was an annual poetry award in Australia, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by William Baylebridge who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress ...

for ''Under Berlin''

Selected bibliography

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

: ''Parallax'', South Head Press *

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

: ''Red Movie and other poems'',

Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

: ''The Blast Area'' Gargoyle Poets number 13), Makar Press *

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

: ''The Alphabet Murders'' (notes from a work in progress), Angus & Robertson *

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

: ''Crying in Early Infancy: 100 Sonnets'', Makar Press *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

: ''Dazed in the Ladies Lounge'',

Island Press (Australia) Island Press is an Australian publisher of poetry and other interests. Island Press was founded in 1970 by Canadian poet, musician and Sydney University lecturer Philip Roberts. He lived on Scotland Island at that time, hence the name. In 1973 ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

: ''Selected Poems'', Hale & Iremonger * 1988: ''Under Berlin'',

University of Queensland Press University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1948 as a traditional university press, UQP now publishes books for general readers across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

: ''The Floor of Heaven'',

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

/Angus & Robertson *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

: ''At The Florida'', University of Queensland Press *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

: ''Late Night Radio'', Polygon Press *

: ''Different Hands'', Folio/Fremantle Arts Centre Press *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

: ''Blackout'', Vagabond Press *

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

: ''Ultra: 25 poems'', Brandl & Schlesinger *

: ''Heart Print'', Salt Publishing *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

: ''Trio'', Salt Publishing *

: ''Studio Moon'',Salt Publishing *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

: ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected'', University of Queensland Press *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

: ''Starlight: 150 Poems'', University of Queensland Press *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: ''Heart Starter'', Puncher and Wattmann

As editor

: ''The New Australian Poetry'', Makar Press, Qld *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

: ''The Tin Wash Dish'', ABC Enterprises, NSW *

: ''The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry'', John Tranter and Philip Mead, Penguin Books, Melbourne *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

: '' The Best Australian Poetry 2007'', guest editor, University of Queensland Press *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

: ''The Best Australian Poems 2011'', editor, Black Inc, Melbourne *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

: ''The Best Australian Poems 2012'', editor, Black Inc, Melbourne

References

Sources

* Wilde, W., Hooton, J. & Andrews, B (1994) ''The Oxford Companion of Australian Literature'' 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Oxford University Press * Mengham, R. (2010) ''The Salt Companion to John Tranter'', Salt Publishing

External links

Jacket websiteOfficial homepageAustralian Poetry Library website
appeared in ''The Argost Online'' in early 2010.
John Tranter 'The Elephant has Left the Room': ''Jacket'' magazine and the Internet ''JASAL'', vol 12,no 1, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tranter, John 1943 births 2023 deaths Australian poets English-language poets Australian magazine publishers (people) University of Wollongong alumni People from Cooma