Biography

Paul Hetherington holds a PhD in literature and has published eight collections of poetry. He edited and introduced the final three volumes of the National Library of Australia’s four-volume edition of the diaries of the artist Donald Friend. He was founding editor of the quarterly humanities and literary journal Voices (1991–97).

Paul’s doctoral thesis explored the extent to which Emily Dickinson’s poems may be read as autobiographical texts and, more generally, the ways in which Dickinson might, or might not be identified with her poetry’s personae. His volumes of poetry include the verse novel, Blood and Old Belief (2003) and It Feels Like Disbelief (2007). His poems have been published in anthologies, literary journals and magazines in a variety of countries, including the USA, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Japan.

Paul was a finalist in the 1993 Antipodes Poetry Contest (USA), has twice been shortlisted for both the Newcastle Poetry Prize and the Australian Capital Territory’s Poetry Award and was winner of the 1996 ACT Book of the Year Award (for Shadow Swimmer) and the 1997 ANUTECH Poetry Prize. He was awarded a Chief Minister’s ACT Creative Arts Fellowship in 2002. Blood and Old Belief was shortlisted for the 2003 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards and the 2003 Colin Roderick Award. Volume four of The Diaries of Donald Friend was shortlisted for the Manning Clark House 2006 National Cultural Awards.

From 1990 to 2008 Paul edited the monthly magazine National Library of Australia News and he is a former editor of the Western Australian monthly multi-arts magazine Fremantle Arts Review. He is a member of the Board of Australian Book Review and a former member of the Editorial Board of Conversations, published by the Australian National University. He has written articles, essays and reviews on literary and cultural matters, including the use of new technologies and ways of providing access to cultural materials. He has an abiding interest in the visual arts.

Paul is a former director of publishing at the National Library of Australia where he organised a program of conferences, seminars, readings, concerts and talks. Currently Chair of the ACT Cultural Council and the ACT Public Art Expert Advisory Panel, he was one of the founders and is former Chair of the ACT Writers Centre.

As Editor

• The Diaries of Donald Friend, Volume 4 (National Library of Australia, 2006)
• The Diaries of Donald Friend, Volume 3 (National Library of Australia, 2005)
• The Diaries of Donald Friend, Volume 2 (National Library of Australia, 2003)

Poetry Collections

• It Feels Like Disbelief (Salt Publishing, 2007)
• Blood and Old Belief: A Verse Novel (Pandanus Books, 2003)
• Stepping Away: Selected Poems (Molonglo Press, 2001)
• Canvas Light (Molonglo Press, 1998)
• Shadow Swimmer (Molonglo Press, 1995)
• The Dancing Scorpion (Molonglo Press, 1993)
• Acts Themselves Trivial (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1991)

Mapping Wildwood Road (National Library of Australia, 1990)

Contact Information