Robyn Rowland is an Irish-Australian citizen living in both countries. She regularly works in Turkey. She has written 13 books, 10 of poetry. Her latest books are
Mosaics from the Map (Doire Press, Galway, 2018) and her bi-lingual
This Intimate War Gallipoli/Çanakkale 1915 – İçli Dışlı Bir Savaş: Gelibolu/Çanakkale 1915 (Five Islands and Bilge Kultur Sanat in Turkey, 2015; republished by Spinifex Press, Australia, 2018). Turkish translations, Mehmet Ali Çelikel.
Robyn’s poetry appears in national and international journals and in over forty anthologies, including eight editions of
Best Australian Poems. She has read and taught in Ireland for 35 years and has been invited to read in India, Portugal, Ireland, the UK, the USA, Greece, Austria, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey and Italy, where, along with Canada, Spain and Japan, she has also been published, sometimes in translation. She has two CDs of poetry,
Off the Tongue and
Silver Leaving – Poems & Harp with Lynn Saoirse. She has been filmed reading for the
National Irish Poetry Reading Archive, James Joyce Library, University College Dublin, available on
Youtube.
For over 18 years Dr Robyn Rowland AO was involved in feminist critiques and campaigns against reproductive and genetic engineering, work contained in her book
Living Laboratories: Women and Reproductive Technologies (Spinifex Press, 1992).
Robyn’s poetry has been featured on Australian and Irish national radio programs. She was an Honorary Fellow, School of Culture and Communication 2008-2012, University of Melbourne; was a member of the National Advisory Council for Australia Poetry Ltd 2010-2013; curated and presented the Poetry & Conversation Series for the Geelong Library Corporation, 2010-2013; and was inaugural Deputy Chair of the Board of the Australian Poetry Centre 2007-2009. Previously Professor of Social Inquiry and Women’s Studies at Deakin University, she retired in 1996 and was created an Officer in the Order of Australia for her contribution to higher education and women’s health.
Photo credit: Ennis Rowland-Wood
