Robert Adamson (poet)

Updated on Feb 02, 2026

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Occupation Poet Role Poet Name Robert (poet)		Spouse Juno Gemes Nationality Australian Awards Christopher Brennan Award

Born 17 May 1943 (age 83) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ( 1943-05-17 ) Books The Goldfinches of Baghdad, The language of oysters, Reading The River, Swamp riddles, Waving to Hart Crane

Blake poetry prize 2011 robert adamson

Robert Adamson (born 17 May 1943 in Sydney) is an Australian poet and publisher.

Robert adamson

Biography

Adamson grew up in Neutral Bay and spent much of his teenage years in Gosford Boys Home for juvenile offenders. He discovered poetry while educating himself in gaol in his 20s. His first book, Canticles on the Skin, was published in 1970. He acknowledges the influence of, among others, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Robert Duncan, and Hart Crane upon his writing.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he edited New Poetry Magazine and established Paper Bark Press in 1988 with his partner Juno Gemes. In 2011 he was awarded the Patrick White Prize and the Blake Prize for Poetry. He is the inaugural CAL chair of poetry at UTS (University of Technology, Sydney).

Poetry

Robert Adamson (poet) Jacket 2 Robert Adamson poem The Flow Through for the Johns

Canticles on the Skin. (Sydney: Illumination Press, 1970)

Cross The Border. (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1977) ISBN 0-86806-050-X

Where I Come From. (Sydney: Big Smoke, 1979) ISBN 0-908201-00-1

The Clean Dark. (Sydney: Paper Bark, 1989) ISBN 0-9587801-2-9

Waving to Hart Crane. (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1994) ISBN 0-207-18347-3

Black Water: Approaching Zukofsky. (Sydney: Brandl & Schlesinger, 1999) ISBN 1-876040-14-9

Mulberry Leaves: New & Selected Poems 1970-2001. (2001) ISBN 1-876749-48-2

Reading the River: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2004) ISBN 978-1-85224-639-6

The Goldfinches of Baghdad. (Flood Editions, USA, 2006) ISBN 0-9746902-8-7

The Golden Bird: New and Selected Poems (Melbourne: Black Inc., 2008) ISBN 978-1-86395-287-3

The Kingfisher's Soul (Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2009) ISBN 978-1-85224-820-8

Empty Your Eyes. (Vagabond Press, 2013)

Net Needle. (Black Inc, 2015) ISBN 978-1-86395-731-1. (Flood Editions, USA, 2015) ISBN 978-0-9903407-1-3. (Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2016) ISBN 978-1-78037-301-0