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A symposium marking the retirement of a champion of Australian literature in schools and universities throughout the world will be held at The University of Western Australia on February 17 and 18.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson said the University was proud of the achievements of Winthrop Professor Dennis Haskell, currently Chair of the Australia Council Literature Board.

"A poet, editor and critic, Professor Haskell has been a highly regarded UWA staff member for more than a quarter of a century, and has been a tireless promoter of our nation's literature," Professor Robson said.

Creative Writing and its Contexts: A Symposium for Dennis Haskell , has been organised by UWA's Westerly Centre and the Association for the Study of Australian Literature to honour Professor Haskell's work.

Along with teaching and lecturing at UWA, Professor Haskell was the poetry critic for the ABC Radio National's Books and Writing program for three years and was awarded the Western Australian Premier's Award for Poetry in 2007 for his collection All the Time in the World .

His research interests include poetry from the medieval period to the present, creative writing, south-east Asian writing in English, literary modernism and post-colonial literature.  Professor Haskell was an editor of the literary magazine Westerly from 1985 to 2009 and has written more than 17 books, 26 book chapters and 36 journal articles, many of which focus on Singapore-Malaysian and Indian literature and culture.

As well as collections of poetry, his books include studies of John Keats, Kenneth Slessor and Australian poetic satire. His most recent book, Acts of Defiance: New and Selected Poems , was published last year and draws from 30 years of writing.

For more information, contact the Westerly Centre .

Media references

Megan O'Connor (UWA Westerly Centre)  (+61 8)  6488 2063
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716