1. Gwen Harwood was an Australian poet and librettist.
19 Facts About Gwen Harwood
1. 2.
Gwen Harwood won numerous poetry awards and prizes, and one of Australia's most significant poetry prizes, the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize is named for her.
3.
Gwen Harwood's work is commonly studied in schools and university courses.
4.
Gwen Harwood was the mother of the author John Harwood.
5.
Gwen Harwood was born on 8 June 1920 in Taringa, a suburb of Brisbane.
6.
Gwen Harwood completed a music teacher's diploma, and worked as a typist at the War Damage Commission from 1942.
7.
Gwen Harwood married linguist Bill Harwood in September 1945, shortly after which they moved to Oyster Cove south of Hobart as he was appointed a lecturer at the University of Tasmania.
8.
Gwen Harwood's father played piano, violin, guitar and the flute.
9.
Gwen Harwood's grandmother introduced her to poetry; this inspired her and became her lifelong calling and passion.
10.
Gwen Harwood had written poetry for many years, and her first poem was published in Meanjin in 1944, but her work did not start appearing regularly in journals and books until the 1960s.
11.
The editor of Meanjin, C B Christesen, once rejected a poem from Harwood but used an expression in it as the title of one of his own poems.
12.
Gwen Harwood wrote libretti for composers such as Larry Sitsky, James Penberthy, Don Kay and Ian Cugley.
13.
Gwen Harwood corresponded over the years with several poet friends, including Vincent Buckley, AD Hope, Vivian Smith, and Norman Talbot, as well as family and other friends such as Tony Riddell, and two volumes of her letters have been published.
14.
Gwen Harwood served as president of the Tasmanian Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.
15.
Gwen Harwood's poetry has been used by many students who are completing the Higher School Certificate in New South Wales, Australia, by Victorian Certificate of Education students in Victoria, Australia, by the International Baccalaureate in Australia, and by Western Australian Certificate of Education students in Western Australia, Australia.
16.
Gwen Harwood's poetry has recurring themes of motherhood and the stifled role of women, particularly those of young mothers.
17.
Gwen Harwood wrote series of poems with recurring characters, two of the most notorious being Professor Eisenbart and Krote.
18.
The style and technique of Gwen Harwood's poetry has led to several of her works being employed by the New South Wales Board of Studies as prescribed texts for the High School Certificate.
19.
Gwen Harwood's work is used as a text for the Victorian Certificate of Education and West Australian Certificate of Education Literature Courses in the poetry section for its literary value and complex themes.