Dennis Haskell – February 7 2021

National Cancer Prevention Month – February

Dennis is the author of nine collections of poetry plus 14 volumes of literary scholarship and criticism and many literary essays. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales, a Bachelor of Arts from and PhD in Literature from The University of Sydney, and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from The University of Western Australia. Dennis has been co-editor of Westerly magazine and Chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. He has served as a visiting poet and professor at universities in England, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and the USA and is currently an Emeritus Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Western Australia. Dennis’s awards include the Western Australia Premier’s Prize for Poetry, the A A Phillips Prize for a distinguished contribution to Australian literature (from the Association for the Study of Australian Literature), and in 2015 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for “services to literature, particularly poetry, to education and to intercultural understanding”. Dennis has co-edited the poetry chapbook Sightings with John Kinsella and published a joint collection of poems with Fay Zwicky, A Touch of Ginger. His other poetry publications include Listening at Night, Tilting at Matilda, Abracadabra, The Ghost Names Sing, All the Time in the World, and his most recent volume, And Yet… as well as the solo collections Acts of Defiance: New and Selected Poems and What Are You Doing Here? Selected Poems.

Ahead of Us
Fremantle Press, 2016; ISBN 9781925163285
Ahead of Us is Haskell’s eighth book of poetry. Dedicated to his wife Rhonda, who lost her battle with cancer after a long illness, Ahead of Us contains poems of love, of two people forging a partnership together and of the inevitable end of that partnership when one person dies. It is a celebration of life and of the fragile thread that holds us here. All author royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to Cancer Council WA.
“Ahead of Us is not only a poignant tribute to the memory of a loved one — it is a gracious gift to all of us from a poet at the height of his powers.” – The West Australian

Samuel Johnson in Marrickville: Selected Poems
ARC Publications, 2001; ISBN 9781900072540
Dennis Haskell’s first UK publication is a selection of poems from three full-length collections published in Australia. Closely-observed, lyrical, Romantic, humorous and above all fiercely honest, Haskell’s poetry deals with the ‘ordinary’ – childhood, parenthood, love, sex, politics, friends, families, the sun-drenched landscape, the flash flood – in an extraordinary way. This is a powerful and memorable collection from one of Australia’s most distinguished poets.
“There’s great satisfaction to be found in the restrained emotion and incisive observations of this finely tuned collection of poetry.” – Fiona Capp, The Age
“Unexpected delights include … two poems, ‘No One Ever Found You’ and ‘The Call’, which …move me to tears every time I read them.” – Robert Potts, TLS