POET

Winner of the 1999 David Unaipon Award for his volume of poetry OF MUSE, MEANDERING AND MIDIGHT (published as part of the UQP Black Australian Writers Series) Samuel Wagan Watson was born in Brisbane in 1972.

His ancestry is Irish, German, Bundjalung and Birri Gubba. A former prefect of the Morayfield State High School, he has been a salesman, public relations officer, fraud investigator, graphic artist, laborer, law clerk, film industry technician, and an actor.

When describing his writing influences, Samuel cites Nick Cave, Tom Waites, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski and Robert Adamson. His other influences are his novelist father, Sam Watson, and his mother, a specialist teacher.

SMOKE ENCRYPTED WHISPERS, published in June 2004, is a stunning collection of exhilarating road poems, urban songlines and ancestral ties that have become the hallmarks of this popular young poet. The volume contains poems from all of Samuel's publications, as well as a selection of new, previously unpublished work.

WHISPERS opens with Samuel's 1999 Unaipon-winning volume OF MUSE, MEANDERING AND MIDNIGHT and concludes with his latest poems, which were inspired his recent workshops and readings in Berlin and New Zealand.

Samuel is available to present a series of engaging and inspiring poetry presentations and workshops for secondary students.

"The nervy obliquity of Watson's vision makes for some original and powerful poetry."

- The Age

"Poet Samuel Wagan Watson is renowned for his humour and wry take on contemporary urban life in Australia."

- Brisbane News