Cate Kennedy
Encyclopedia
Cate Kennedy is an author
born in Louth, Lincolnshire
, England
who moved to Australia
in her childhood. She graduated from University of Canberra
and has also taught at several colleges, including The University of Melbourne. She currently resides in north-east Victoria.
Kennedy's writing has appeared in such publications as The New Yorker
, Crime Factory, Redoubt
, Phoenix Review and Blast Magazine. She has twice won The Age Short Story Competition. Other stories have won the HQ-Sceptre Short Story Award, and the University of Canberra Short Story Prize.
short story award. She went on to study professional writing in Canberra "and stopped writing, as everyone does; analysis takes all the joy and mystery out of it". Her tutors included Australian writers Rodney Hall
and Frank Moorhouse
.
She returned to writing short stories when she was in her thirties and working as a librarian in Daylesford
. While there, she entered the Scarlet Stiletto short story prize run by Sisters in Crime
. She entered eight stories, even though the rules stated that no writer could enter more than two, and won. The win encouraged her to return to short story writing and, while she experienced many rejections, she kept writing.
She moved to Mexico with her then partner, working for two years with Australian Volunteers International. This experience resulted in her first collection of poetry, Signs of other Fires which was published in 2001 and highly commended in the Victorian Premier's Awards. After this period, she returned to Australia where she married a farmer and settled in Benalla.
She told the Australian journalist, Jane Sullivan, that her formative literary influences include "Roald Dahl
, Barbara Baynton
, John Steinbeck
, Peter Carey, Tim Winton
, Ray Bradbury
and Harper Lee
". She said that she re-reads To Kill A Mocking Bird every year and that her favourite short story is Maurice Sendak's
children's story Where the Wild Things Are
.
Other awards: The Herald/Sun Short Story Award
The 2007 Sisters in Crime
Scarlett Stiletto Awards include a category named for Kennedy: "The Cate Kennedy Award for Best New Talent ($350)"
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
born in Louth, Lincolnshire
Louth, Lincolnshire
Louth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
who moved to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in her childhood. She graduated from University of Canberra
University of Canberra
Over the years the Stone Day program has gradually become larger and larger, taking up a whole week and now Stonefest is one of Australia's most popular music festivals. The first foundation celebrations were held in 1971. In 1973 Stone Day celebrations were held over two days, which was expanded...
and has also taught at several colleges, including The University of Melbourne. She currently resides in north-east Victoria.
Kennedy's writing has appeared in such publications as The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Crime Factory, Redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
, Phoenix Review and Blast Magazine. She has twice won The Age Short Story Competition. Other stories have won the HQ-Sceptre Short Story Award, and the University of Canberra Short Story Prize.
Literary career
Cate Kennedy started writing as a teenager, when she won the school section of The Canberra TimesThe Canberra Times
The Canberra Times newspaper was founded in 1926 in Canberra, Australia by Arthur Shakespeare.It was the second paper to be printed in the city, the first being The Federal Capital Pioneer. The paper was sold to the Fairfax group in the 1960s by Arthur Shakespeare on the condition that it continue...
short story award. She went on to study professional writing in Canberra "and stopped writing, as everyone does; analysis takes all the joy and mystery out of it". Her tutors included Australian writers Rodney Hall
Rodney Hall
-Biography:Born in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, Hall came to Australia as a child after World War II and studied at the University of Queensland . In the 1960s Hall began working as a freelance writer, and a book and film reviewer. He also worked as an actor, and was often engaged by the...
and Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse is an acclaimed Australian writer with a growing international reputation. He has won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing....
.
She returned to writing short stories when she was in her thirties and working as a librarian in Daylesford
Daylesford, Victoria
Daylesford is a town located in the Shire of Hepburn, Victoria, Australia. It is a former goldmining town about 115 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. At the 2006 census, Daylesford had a population of 3,073...
. While there, she entered the Scarlet Stiletto short story prize run by Sisters in Crime
Sisters in Crime
Sisters in Crime is an organization that has 3,600 members in 48 chapters world-wide, offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors. Members are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by their affection for the mystery genre and their support of women...
. She entered eight stories, even though the rules stated that no writer could enter more than two, and won. The win encouraged her to return to short story writing and, while she experienced many rejections, she kept writing.
She moved to Mexico with her then partner, working for two years with Australian Volunteers International. This experience resulted in her first collection of poetry, Signs of other Fires which was published in 2001 and highly commended in the Victorian Premier's Awards. After this period, she returned to Australia where she married a farmer and settled in Benalla.
She told the Australian journalist, Jane Sullivan, that her formative literary influences include "Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
, Barbara Baynton
Barbara Baynton
Barbara Janet Ainsleigh Baynton, Lady Headley was an Australian writer, made famous for Bush Studies which was written in retaliation to Henry Lawson's works.- Life :...
, John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
, Peter Carey, Tim Winton
Tim Winton
Timothy John "Tim" Winton , is an Australian novelist and short story writer.-Life:Winton was born in Perth, Western Australia, but moved at a young age to the regional city of Albany....
, Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
and Harper Lee
Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
". She said that she re-reads To Kill A Mocking Bird every year and that her favourite short story is Maurice Sendak's
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
children's story Where the Wild Things Are
Where The Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children's picture book by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short in 1973 , a 1980 opera, and, in 2009, a live-action feature film...
.
Awards
- 2004: IP Picks. Winner for Joyflight
- 2004: Ginninderra Press Short Story Competition. Winner
- 2002: The Vincent Buckley Poetry PrizeThe Vincent Buckley Poetry PrizeThe Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize is a biennial award that is offered alternately to enable an Australian poet to visit Ireland and to facilitate the visit of an Irish poet to Melbourne...
for Signs of Other Fires - 2001 Victorian Premier's Literary AwardVictorian Premier's Literary AwardThe Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Governmentwith the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry....
. Highly Commended for Signs of Other Fires - 2000 & 2001: The Age Short Story AwardThe Age Short Story AwardThe Age Short Story Award is a competition that is run in conjunction with International PEN, the international writers' association. It was established in 1979. From 1979 to 1984 it was run in conjunction with Tabloid Story and was known as The Age-Tabloid Story Awards. The inaugural award was won...
- 1997: ANUTECH Literary Prize. Short Story Winner for White Flight
- 1996 & 1997: HQ/HarperCollins Short Story Competition. Shortlisted
- 1994 & 1995: Scarlett Stiletto. Winner
Other awards: The Herald/Sun Short Story Award
The 2007 Sisters in Crime
Sisters in Crime
Sisters in Crime is an organization that has 3,600 members in 48 chapters world-wide, offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors. Members are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by their affection for the mystery genre and their support of women...
Scarlett Stiletto Awards include a category named for Kennedy: "The Cate Kennedy Award for Best New Talent ($350)"
Poetry, short story collections
- Signs of Other Fires, (Five Islands Press, c2001) ISBN 0864187289
- Joyflight (Interactive Press, 2004) ISBN 187681926X API review
- Dark Roots, (ScribeScribeA scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...
, 2006) ISBN 1920769994 review - Crucible and Other Poems, (Picaro Press, 2006)
Memoir
- Sing, and Don't Cry : a Mexican Journal, (Transit Lounge, 2005) ISBN 0975022814
Published short stories
- 'Cold Snap', (in Dark Roots), published in The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
(as "Black Ice") on 11 September 2006
Edited
- Labour of love : tales from the world of midwives, with Amanda Tattam (MacmillanMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
, 2005) - Love & desire : four modern Australian novellas (Five Mile Press, 2007)