Gig Ryan, born Elizabeth Anne Martina Ryan, is an Australian poet. She is a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award.

Early life

Ryan was born in Leicester, England in 1956. This was when her father, Australian surgeon Peter John Ryan, had taken the family to England to gain his surgical qualifications (FRCS). After they returned in 1957, Ryan grew up in Melbourne, and was educated in the Catholic school system.

In 1993, Ryan earned a B.A. in Latin and Ancient Greek, and in 2020, she earned her doctorate in Creative writing at Monash University.

Career

At seventeen, Ryan won the Victorian 1974 Maryborough Prize, and published her first poems. Ryan lived in Sydney 1978–1990. Before moving to Sydney, she had co-founded Melbourne women writers' magazine Luna in 1974, which she co-edited and reviewed for until '78. Ryan later became poetry editor of The Age newspaper (1998–2016). selecting a weekly poem, and regularly reviewing contemporary poetry. She has also recorded her songs with the bands 'Disband' (1981-1982: Kathy Bluff, violin, backing vocals; Amanda Jones, saxophone; Elizabeth Drake, piano, keyboards; 1983-1988, Amanda Jones, saxophone, backing vocals; Jo/Joanna Packer, drums, percussion; 1986-1988 joined by Thomas Tallis/ Ashelford, bass, backing vocals; Simon Alcorn, violin) and 'Driving Past'(David Nichols, drums; Mia Schoen, guitar and backing vocals; Andrew Withycombe, bass).

Awards and recognition

• 1981 Anne Elder Award, co-winner for The Division of Anger

• 1999 Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, winner for Pure and Applied

• 2002 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, shortlisted for Heroic Money

• 2012 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, winner for New and Selected Poems

• 2012 ALS Gold Medal, shortlisted for New and Selected Poems

• 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry, shortlisted for New and Selected Poems

• 2015 Christopher Brennan Award

Bibliography

• The Division of Anger (Transit Press, 1981)

Manners of an Astronaut (Hale and Iremonger, 1984)

• Revision: Manners of an Astronaut (Shearsman Library, 2018)

• The Last Interior (Scripsi Magazine, 1986)

• Excavation (PanPicador Australia, 1990)

• Pure and Applied (Paper Bark Press / Craftsman House, 1998)

• Research (Folio/Salt, 1999)

• Heroic Money (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2001)

New and Selected Poems (Giramondo, 2011)

• Revision: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, UK, 2012)

Discography

• "Six Goodbyes" Disband, Big Home Productions (1988)

• "Church Fete" Driving Past, Chapter Music (1998)

• "Real Estate" Driving Past, Chapter Music (1999)

• "Travel" Driving Past, Jacana Records (2006)

Selected list of poems

References

External links

• Poems and Vietnamese translations

• Gig Ryan's work on the Cordite Poetry Review website

• Driving Past Band homepage