Louise Crisp (born 1957) 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 ...

deckhand An able seaman (AB) is a seaman and member of the deck department of a merchant ship with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination ...

, and fire tower watcher.

Early life and education

Crist was born in

Omeo Omeo ( ) is a town in Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for 'mountains' or 'hi ...

, Victoria and studied linguistics, anthropology, and prehistory 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 ...

Career

Crisp has worked in various jobs, including as a

fire tower A fire lookout tower, fire tower, or lookout tower is a tower that provides housing and protection for a person known as a " fire lookout", whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit ...

person on Mount Nugong, as deckhand on fishing boats in both the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, and as a spokesperson for Forest Fire Management Victoria.

Poetry

Her first collection was ''The luminous ocean'', a shared volume with

Valery Wilde Valery () is a male given name and occasional surname. It is derived from the Latin name '' Valerius''. The Slavic given name Valeriy or Valeri is prevalent in Russia and derives directly from the Latin. Given name * Valery Afanassiev, Russian ...

's ''In the Half-Light'', published by

Friendly Street Poets Friendly Street Poets, often referred to as just Friendly Street, is a poetry reading group and publisher in Adelaide, South Australia, established in 1975. History Friendly Street Poets was inaugurated as a fortnightly poetry reading on 11 Nove ...

in 1988. She has published several more books of poetry including written in ''pearl & sea fed'' (published by Hazard Press, New Zealand in 1994) which she wrote while working on the fire tower. This volume was shortlisted for the 1995 C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry and the New South Wales Premier's Award. Crisp's 2019 book, ''Yuiquimbiang'', was described as "another wonderful addition to our literature’s re-engagement with the mosaic-continent nowadays known as Australia" and shortlisted for the 2020

Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry The Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an enumeration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies w ...

Personal life

Crisp lives in

East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia covering (14%) of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: Ea ...

(

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

) with her partner and her two daughters. She is a canoeist.

Works

* * * * * *

References

External links

Crisps' profile on Friendly Street Poets

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crisp, Louise 1957 births Living people Australian poets Writers from Victoria (state) Australian sailors Australian conservationists