Philip Hodgins

Philip Ian Hodgins (28 January 1959 – 18 August 1995) is an Australian poet.cite web |title = Hodgins, Philip |publisher = Austlit Agent |url= http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A$01 Hodgins, Philip |accessdate= 2007-08-05]

Philip Hodgins was born in Shepparton, Victoria in 1959 and spent his childhood on his parent's dairy farm at nearby Katandra West. He went to school in Geelong and later moved to Melbourne where he worked for several years with a publishing house and before moving to live in Maryborough in central Victoria.

Hodgkins' experience of farm life is strongly present through much of his poetry. His verse novella "Dispossessed" describe the last weeks of a poor rural family about to be evicted from their farm. Hodgins also wrote about Australian Rules football.

In November 1983 Hodgins was admitted to hospital and diagnosed as having chronic myeloid leukaemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. His experiences as a leukaemia patient forms the subject of much of his later work.

In 1990, Hodgins was married the writer, Janet Shaw,cite web |title = Papers of Philip Hodgins: Biographical Note|publisher= Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA |url= http://www.lib.adfa.edu.au/speccoll/finding_aids/hodgins_philip.html] with whom he had two children, Anna and Helen.

He was a co founder of the Mildura Writers' Festival and the annual Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal is awarded each year, to a consistently outstanding Australian writer, in his memory.

Hodgins dies in Maryborough on 18 August 1995. His papers, writing and correspondence are held in Australian Defence Force Academy Library in Canberra.

A photograph of Philip Hodgins by A. T. Bolton (1926-1996) is in the National Library of Australia online collection: [http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an14466001-1 Portrait of Philip nowrap| Hodgins, 1993]

Awards

* 1986 - Wesley Michael Wright Prize for Poetry
* Bicentennial Poetry Book Award
* 1987 - New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry for "Blood and Bone"
* 1988 - Grace Perry Memorial Award
* 1993 - Grace Leven Prize for Poetry for "The End of the Season"
* National Book Council Poetry Prize
* Prairie Schooner Readers Choice USA Award
* 1996 - National Book Council Turnbull Fox Phillips Poetry Prize

Publications

*"Blood and Bone" (1986)
*"Down the Lake with Half a Chook" (1988)
*"Animal Warmth" (1990)
*"The End of the Season" (1993)
*"Up On All Fours" (1993)
*"Dispossessed" (1994)
*"Things Happen" (1995)
*"Selected Poems" (1997)

Notes

References

* [http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A$01 Hodgins, Philip] Austlit Agent (Retrieved 5 August 2007)
* [http://www.lib.adfa.edu.au/speccoll/finding_aids/hodgins_philip.html Papers of Philip Hodgins] Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA (Retrieved 5 August 2007)

External links

* [http://www.mwaf.com.au/html/mainnav/writers.html Mildura Writer's Festival]
* [http://www.latrobe.edu.au/bulletin/archive/0903/story_lecture1.html Recognising Clive James] La Trobe University Bulletin September 2003 (Retrieved 5 August 2007)

Persondata
NAME=Hodgins, Philip
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= poet
DATE OF BIRTH=28 January 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH= Shepparton, Victoria
DATE OF DEATH= 18 August 1995
PLACE OF DEATH= Maryborough, Victoria