Kris Hemensley
Kris Alan Hemensley (born 26 April 1946) is a poet, who was born on The Isle of Wight, and spent his early childhood in Alexandria, the son of an Egyptian mother and an English father who was stationed in Egypt with the Royal Air Force. He visited Australia at the age of 18, and emigrated there in 1966. He was awarded the Christopher Brennan Award in 2005, which recognizes poetry of "sustained quality and distinction".
Hemensley has published around 20 collections of poetry, most of which are currently out of print. Through the late 60's and 70's he was involved in poetry workshops at La Mama, and edited the cheaply produced literary magazines Our Glass, and The Ear in a Wheatfield, amongst others. The Ear played an important role in providing a place where poets — such as Jennifer Maiden —who were writing outside what was then the mainstream could publish their work. In 1969 and 1970 he presented the program Kris Hemensley's Melbourne on ABC Radio. In the 1970s he was poetry editor for Meanjin
He currently manages Collected Works, a specialist poetry bookshop in Melbourne, Australia.
Read more about Kris Hemensley: Poetry