Alexander Craig papers relating to poetry

MLMSS 11104/Boxes 1-2

fonds

1962-1996

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Drawings, Clippings

9661348

0.32 metres of textual material (2 boxes) - manuscript, typescript

Alexander Craig (1923-1996) was born in Malvern, Victoria. He graduated from University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, and a Diploma of Education. He served in the Australian Army in New Guinea, Cape York and Thursday Island from 1942-1946. After the war, he became Senior English Master at Mount Scopus College in Victoria. In the 1990s he was a co-broadcaster of the Sunday lunchtime jazz program on Sydney's 2MBS FM radio. Craig published three volumes of verse, Far-Back Country (1954), The Living Sky (1964) and When No-one is Looking (1977) and edited the anthology, Twelve Poets, 1950-1970 (1971). Craig's poetry has been published in anthologies, and in Australian and international literary journals, such as Meanjin, Poetry, Southerly and Voices.

Gwendoline (Gwen) Harwood (1920-1995) was born in Taringa, Queensland. She was a poet and librettist, and was awarded the Grace Leven prize, 1975; the Robert Frost medallion, 1977; the Patrick White literary award, 1978; and a fellowship from the Australia Council, 1973–76. Appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in 1989, she was made an honorary doctor of letters by the universities of Tasmania, 1988 and Queensland, 1993, and by La Trobe University, 1994. She won the C. J. Dennis prize at the Victorian Premier’s literary awards, 1989 and the John Bray award, 1990. Her final collection, The Present Tense, 1995, was posthumously shortlisted for the John Bray award in 1996.

Ronald Albert Simpson (1929-2002) was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He was a high school English teacher before becoming a lecturer in Art and Literature at Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melbourne in 1968 until his retirement in 1987. Simpson was poetry editor of the 'Bulletin', 1963-1965, and the 'Age', 1969-1997. He was awarded the Christopher Brennan Award, 1992, and the Age Book of the Year, 1998. His later works included his cubist line drawings.

Reference:
Austlit. 2009. "Alexander Craig." Accessed 6 October 2021. https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A29822
Hoddinott, A. 2019. "Harwood, Gwendoline Nessie (Gwen) (1920-1995)." Accessed 8 December 2021. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/harwood-gwendoline-nessie-gwen-22407
Austlit. 2013. "R.A. Simpson." Accessed 8 December 2021. https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/OLD?id=A(nn&idtype=oldid

By descent from Alexander Craig to his niece Juliet Wright

BOX 1
FOLDER 1
Typed original works by Alexander Craig:
Sea Change: Red leather bound folder of selected poems
Sea Change typed manuscript

FOLDER 2
1 poem by Gwen Harwood for Alexander Craig titled, 'An adjectiveless poem'
2 poems by Alexander Craig for Gwen Harwood, including 'Poem really without adjectives' and 'Sonnet on the Wontigog'

FOLDER 3
Letters from Alexander Craig to various recipients, including Peter Porter and Rosemary Dobson. Includes newspaper clippings and poems by Alexander Craig, 1974-1979

BOX 2
FOLDER 1
Correspondence between Alexander Craig and Ronald Albert Simpson, including one drawing in pencil by Simpson, 1974-1981

FOLDER 2
Correspondence between Alexander Craig and Ronald Albert Simpson, including poems written by both men for the other's comments, 1982-1985

FOLDER 3
Letters from Ronald Albert Simpson, including poems, to Alexander Craig, 1986-1989. Editing in pencil by Alexander Craig.

FOLDER 4
Letters from Ronald Albert Simpson, including poems, to Alexander Craig, 1990-1996. Editing in pencil by Alexander Craig.

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