Litnet

John Mateer is an accomplished poet who has published five books of poems: Loanwords, Barefoot Speech, Anachronism, Burning Swans (all in Australia), and most recently, The Ancient Capital of Images, a collection of poems on his experiences in South Africa, Australia and Japan. He has also recently published a non-fiction work, Semar's Cave: an Indonesian Journal, a meditation on his experiences in Sumatra and Java.

Mateer is an invited reader at the 5th International Meeting of Poets in Coimbra, Portugal, at Poetry Africa in Durban, and at WORDfEAST in Singapore, as well as at writers' festivals around Australia. He has been writer-in-residence in Sumatra and Kyoto, and visiting artist at the School of Contemporary Arts at Edith Cowan University, Perth. Among his awards are the 2001 Victorian Premier's prize for poetry and the Centenary Medal for his contribution to Australian literature.

In South Africa his work has been published on Donga (online), in Itch and New Contrast.
His work as an art critic specialising in contemporary art has appeared in many journals and catalogues and he is a frequent contributor to Art Monthly Australia.

Mateer was born in Roodepoort, South Africa, in 1971 and spent part of his childhood in Canada. Since 1989 he has lived in Australia.

 

Opgedateer/Updated: 2006-09-01
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