Lawrence, Anthony 1957–

PERSONAL: Born 1957, in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Giramondo Publishing Company, P.O. Box 752, Artarmon, New South Wales 1570, Australia.

CAREER: Poet. Has worked as a fisherman, jackeroo, and teacher.

AWARDS, HONORS: Gwen Harwood Memorial Prize, 1996; Newcastle Poetry Prize, 1997; Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, 1997, for "The Viewfinder"; Judith Wright Calanthe Award, 1999, for New and Selected Poems; Josephine Ulrick National Poetry Prizes, 2001, for "The Rain" and "A Sequence of Five Poems"; Claudio Alscorso Award, 2003; Harri Jones Memorial Award, for Dreaming in Stone; Australia Council Senior fellowship; numerous Australia Literature Board grants and other awards for poetry.

WRITINGS:

In the Half Light (novel), Picador (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 2000, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2002.

POETRY

Dreaming in Stone, Angus & Robertson (North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia), 1989.

Three Days out of Tidal Town, Hale & Iremonger (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

(With John Kinsella) Ultramarine, Folio (Applecross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

The Darkwood Aquarium, Penguin (London, England), 1993.

Cold Wires of Rain, Penguin Books (New York, NY), 1995.

The Viewfinder, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1996.

New and Selected Poems, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1998.

Skinned by Light: Poems, 1989–2002, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2002.

The Sleep of a Learning Man, Giramondo (Artarmon, New South Wales, Australia), 2003.

Contributor of poetry to literary magazines, including Meanjin, Overland, Poetry Australia, LiNQ, and Antipodes.

SIDELIGHTS: Anthony Lawrence is an award-winning Australian poet who has also won praise for his first novel, In the Half Light. Lawrence ended his formal education at the age of sixteen and began traveling around Australia and beyond. Along the way he worked at various jobs, including as a cowhand and fisherman. His experiences figured prominently in the poetry of this "prolific and striking writer," according to an essayist for Contemporary Poets. His work often celebrates the extraordinary qualities of ordinary life, and it features vivid descriptions of places, creatures, and localities. While Lawrence's poetry usually takes the form of "distinctively rich blank verse," he has also shown his skill in using various verse forms, according to the essayist.

Lawrence's collection The Darkwood Aquarium reveals him as a man capable of ruthless self-analysis and concerned with the pain and difficulties of life. This sort of focus "would appear to make reading his poetry an onerous undertaking," stated Manly Johnson in a World Literature Today review, but "on the contrary, these appear as idiosyncratic or expressionistic qualities which, in balance with others, provide the poems with their lapidary strength and brilliance."

In the collection The Sleep of a Learning Man, Lawrence shows a passion for the natural world that is stated in such a way that "flippant indifference does not present itself as a distancing option," reported Alan Gould in a Quadrant review. Gould praised Lawrence as a powerful storyteller, a keen observer, and intelligent in his "scrutiny of emotion." Less enthusiastic was Greg McLaren, a reviewer for Southerly who called The Sleep of a Learning Man "troubling" although, in parts, "very powerful." Reviewing another volume, Skinned by Light: Poems, 1989–2002, Southerly writer Katherine Gallagher called Lawrence an "intrepid, experimental, and strong-voiced" poet.

New and Selected Poems shows the poet's evolution, and proves that he "is still strengthening his stride," according to Antipodes contributor Michael Wiley. Wiley believed that one of the strongest aspects of Lawrence's poetry is the daring, risky metaphors and descriptions used. He stated that the poet "tends toward the odd, extreme, and surreal; and his metaphors and descriptions reveal the world in surprising new ways." The critic later added, "As they [the poems] come close to the edge, Lawrence's volume becomes particularly pleasurable."

Lawrence brings his poetic skills to the novel form in In the Half Light. Related by a narrator named James, the story combines elements of a coming-of-age story with a chronicle of mental illness. Growing up in Australia, James has a happy, secure home life and is a well-behaved child. Yet for as long as he can remember, James has heard voices, seen things that others did not, and struggled with bouts of depression. As he matures, the symptoms worsen, and he is diagnosed with schizophrenia. James seeks to live life as normally as possible and to find love, despite his mental illness. "His struggle to do so is movingly and persuasively detailed with perfectly pitched emotion," stated a Kirkus Reviews writer.

Much of In the Half Light concerns James's interactions with three different women: a fellow schizophrenic named Stephanie; Tina, with whom he falls in love only to have their relationship end in tragedy; and Sarah, who, despite great problems of her own, helps James to find some peace and happiness. Reviewing the novel for Booklist, Michael Spinella called it "beautifully poetic and very well crafted." James's instability and helplessness are heavy burdens for a lead character, but "thanks to Lawrence's poetic prose and steady pacing, his narration shines, making this unusual story enlightening and thought provoking," according to a Publishers Weekly writer. A Kirkus Reviews writer concluded that the story loses momentum in its later chapters but "is still a debut of great promise."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Poets, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Antipodes, June, 1999, Michael Wiley, review of New and Selected Poems, p. 55.

Booklist, June 1, 2002, Michael Spinella, review of In the Half Light, p. 1686.

Island, winter, 1998, "Singing in Their Chairs: A Conversation between Anthony Lawrence and Brian Henry."

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2002, review of In the Half Light, p. 518.

Library Journal, May 15, 2002, David A. Berona, review of In the Half Light, p. 125.

Publishers Weekly, May 6, 2002, review of In the Half Light, p. 33.

Quadrant, November, 1997, Alison Croggon, review of The Viewfinder, p. 74; March, 2005, Alan Gould, review of The Sleep of a Learning Man, p. 91.

Southerly, summer, 1998, Katherine Gallagher, review of Skinned by Light: Poems, 1989–2002, p. 212; summer, 2004, Greg McLaren, review of The Sleep of a Learning Man, p. 183.

World Literature Today, summer, 1994, Manly Johnson, review of The Darkwood Aquarium, p. 631.