Philip Salom | |
|---|---|
 Philip Salom, April 2020 | |
| Born | Stephen Philip Salom (1950-08-08)8 August 1950 (age 75) Bunbury, Western Australia |
| Other names | Alan Fish, MA Carter |
| Occupation(s) | Poet and novelist |
| Spouse | Meredith Kidby |
| Website | www.philipsalom.com |
Philip Salom (born 8 August 1950) is anAustralian poet and novelist, whose poetry books have drawn widespread acclaim. His 15 collections of poetry and six novels are noted for their originality and expansiveness and surprising differences from title to title. His poetry has won awards in Australia and the UK. His novelWaiting was shortlisted for Australia's prestigious 2017Miles Franklin Literary Award, the 2017Prime Minister's Literary Awards and the 2016Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. His well-reviewed novelThe Returns (2019) was a finalist in the 2020Miles Franklin Award. In 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, he publishedThe Fifth Season. Since then, he has publishedSweeney and the Bicycles (2022). His most recent poetry collection isHologrammatical (2023).
In 2021 Salom was recognised with the Outstanding Achievement Award of the 4th Boao International Poetry Award.[1]
Growing up on a farm inBrunswick Junction in theSouth West region ofWestern Australia, Salom had an isolated childhood before boarding atBunbury during his high school years. He went on to study agriculture atMuresk Agricultural College. He then worked for two years as a research assistant on the Northam Research Station. While studying Agricultural Science at theUniversity of Western Australia, he developed his passion for the arts, painting and singing in the university choir. Uninterested in his course, he left university, took various casual jobs, and started writing on a 1972 painting trip to New Zealand. On returning toPerth, he enrolled inCurtin University's Literature and Creative Writing course, one of the first of its kind in Australia.
On graduating he took a job with the Public Service in his old area of agriculture. His first poetry collection was published byFremantle Arts Centre Press in 1980. Since then there have been many poetry collections and six novels. Salom has won both national and international acclaim for his poetry. For most of these years he taught Creative Writing at Curtin andMurdoch University in Western Australia. Late in 1997 he moved with his family toMelbourne,Victoria. In the next years he lectured atDeakin University and finally at theUniversity of Melbourne. At the end of 2008 he resigned from lecturing and since then has been writing full-time.
His writing is distinctive for its metaphoric richness and expansive vision. It is also hugely various from title to title; his creative restlessness extends not only to style but also to conceptual paradigms. Since his first collection, many of his books have depicted imagined worlds or explored conceptually contained sequences - books such asThe Projectionist,Sky Poems,The Rome Air Naked,The Well Mouth andKeepers.Keepers is part of a trilogy which is extended through two more books,The Keeper of Fish andKeeping Carter, books ostensibly written by Alan Fish and MA Carter, respectively. These are heteronyms for Salom's recent work.
Since theKeepers trilogy, Flying Island Books (Macao) published Salom's pocket book of poems,Between Yes and No, in English and Mandarin, translated by Chris Song Zijiang and Iris Fan Xing. And in 2015Alterworld (published by Puncher & Wattmann) completes another trilogy -Sky Poems,The Well Mouth andAlterworld - of three imagined worlds in one set of covers.Hologrammatical (2023) is his latest collection.
In 2016 his third novelWaiting was published. In theWeekend Australian reviewer Peter Pierce called it a "brilliant and unsettling novel". He adds: "Philip Salom has unleashed Australia's oddest literary couple since the elderly twin brothers Arthur and Waldo Brown inPatrick White'sThe Solid Mandala (1966)". The book has received outstanding reviews and acclaim for its extraordinary characterisation and its striking prose style. Michael McGirr says: "Waiting is a tour de force of sustained and affectionate wit". Judges' comments are available on the 2017 Miles Franklin website and the 2017 Prime Minister's Awards website. Below are some quotes from these:
"Waiting is poignant, compassionate and droll; it is never maudlin nor idealised. Salom's prose, poetic and frequently playful, bestows a multiplicity of incidental insights en route, yet never condescends to its subjects nor patronises its readers. As rollicking as it is original and affecting, Waiting is a highly readable addition to Australian literature." (Miles Franklin.)
"The novel vibrates with the language of the street and the speaking voices of the many characters is brilliantly captured by Salom, whose poetry background is apparent. The suburban rooming house which is central to the novel reverberates with wit and intensity and the cast of characters that live and die in this boarding house is achingly authentic. Their impoverished circumstances, daily struggles with health and mental capacity are all handled with sensitivity and a unique voice."
The Returns was shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Award.
Salom has performed as a guest writer and lecturer in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Yugoslavia, Singapore and New Zealand.
