Lee Cataldi (born 1942) 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 ...

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 ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...

Biography

Cataldi was born in Sydney during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

when, owing to her

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

heritage, she was technically an 'enemy alien'. As a child she lived in Hobart, moving back to Sydney for university. Cataldi has worked as a teacher and a linguist, on

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...

languages in

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Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

and Balgo. In the late sixties she travelled to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

where she became a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

, inspired by the May 1968 uprising in France. Cataldi's first book of poems, ''Invitation to a Marxist lesbian party'', was published in 1978, winning the Anne Elder Memorial Prize in that year. ''Women who live on the ground'' (1990) received the

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

Poetry Award; it was also short-listed for the

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, t ...

. ''Race against time'' (1998) won the 1999

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form.Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

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, for an Asialink Literature Residency. She currently lives in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Bibliography

Poetry

* ''Invitation to a Marxist lesbian party'',

Wild & Woolley Wild & Woolley was an Australian small book publisher founded by Pat Woolley and Michael Wilding in 1973. Woolley bought a corner tenement in Chippendale, Sydney, in 1975 for $23,000. Starting in 1973 with the iconoclastic ''All About Grass' ...

, 1978. * ''Women who live on the ground: Poems, 1978-1988'',

Penguin Australia Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Peggy Rockman Napaljarri Peggy Rockman Napaljarri (also known as Peggy Yalurrngali Rockman Napaljarri) (born c. 1940) is a Warlpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Born on what is now Tanami Downs pastoral station in the Northern Ter ...

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, 2003.

References

External links

6 poems
at Thylazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Cataldi, Lee 1942 births Living people Linguists from Australia Australian people of Italian descent Australian women poets Writers from Sydney Lesbian poets Australian LGBT poets Australian social scientists

Biography

Bibliography

Poetry

References

Further reading

External links