Dorothy Porter died this morning from complications due to cancer. She was one of Australia’s best known and most loved poets. Dorothy wrote five crime thriller fiction books that were in poetry verse instead of prose. She also wrote many collections of poetry in which she experimented with her craft and took the medium of poetry to new levels. Her style is short, sexy, and forthright. She was a ground-breaking and award-winning poet, a brilliant speaker, a passionate author, and an outspoken defender of writers and authors.
Her most recent publication, El Dorado was shortlisted for Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize (Age Book of the Year Award), the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction, and Best Fiction in the Ned Kelly Awards.
I heard her talk for the first time at a writer’s festival in Brisbane about ten years ago. Unlike many poets, Dorothy knew how to deliver her poems with punch. She was impressive. I can still hear her voice as I read her books.
If you have not read her books try searching the library catalogue using the words Dorothy Porter. Her crime thriller fiction in verse include:
El Dorado
Wild Surmise
What a piece of work
The Monkey’s Mask
Akhenaten
