Name Laurie Duggan Role Poet | ||
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Books The Ash Range, Compared to What, Mangroves, The Collected Blue Hills, Selected Poems | ||
English staff reading from Ted Berrigan's 'The Sonnets'
Laurence "Laurie" James Duggan (born 1949) is an Australian poet, editor, and translator.
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Life
Laurie Duggan was born in Melbourne and attended Monash University, where his friends included the poets Alan Wearne and John A. Scott. Both he and Scott won the Monash Poetry Prize. He moved to Sydney in 1972 and became involved with the poetry scene there, in particular with John Tranter, John Forbes, Ken Bolton and Pam Brown. Duggan lectured at Swinburne College ( 1976) and Canberra College of Advanced Education (1983).
His poetry grows out of contemplation of moments and found texts. His interest in bricolage started early: while still at Monash he was working on a series of 'Merz poems', short poems about discarded objects, inspired by the work of Kurt Schwitters. His book-length poem The Ash Range (1987) uses diaries, journals of pioneers, and newspaper articles in its construction of a history of Gippsland.