Creative Writing: Graduate & alumni profiles
Photo: Ponch Hawkes
Christine Balint
Professional Writer
Graduated: 2004
Course: Bachelor of Creatives Arts / PHD
After completing her undergraduate degree, Christine undertook creative writing postgraduate studies with the SCA, culminating in a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) awarded in 2004. Whilst completing her Ph.D, Christine was also employed within the School as a tutor in Creative Writing classes.
Both during and after these studies she has enjoyed much success as a writer, with her first novel The Salt Letters (1998) shortlisted for the Vogel Literary Award and published in Australia, New York, Italy and Germany. Her latest novel Ophelia's Fan was published by Allen and Unwin in 2004, implementing the research she completed with the School.
Josiane Behmoiras
Writer
"Having asked a genie for three wishes, I was nevertheless startled to receive, at the end of 2001, my letter of acceptance for the Creative Writing Masters program by research in the English Department. This was a landmark validation for me as a writer. I was fortunate to work with Marion M Campbell, my supervisor, who had a deep understanding of my work. Marion's monthly writing symposiums were not only an opportunity to meet other writers and to sample new wine labels (like the 'Cornered Poet' - home-printed and glued onto a cleanskin), but also for an exchange of feedback on a diverse and exciting range of work in progress. Writing in an Old Quad attic room symbolised for me the relevance of my migrant's story to the body of Australian narrative."
After completing my Masters by research, I took a subject, in 2004, in the Masters of Creative Writing by Coursework program. 'Text, Time & Space' was a heady offering of ideas and practice for writers. It was a timely experience, a class where students and teacher bonded in the process of channeling the rigour of theoretical matter into the dreamtime of fiction. Many meals and views were shared, and much friendship, prose and poetry are still ensuing.
Publications
- Dora B: a memoir of my mother (2005), published in Australia, England and Berlin
Kylie Boltin
Documentary director and writer
2004 Master of Arts (Creative writing) and 1999 Arts (Honours) graduate http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0765851/combined
"To be honest, the first three years of university were a blur - I spent more time consumed by overseas travel than the classes I was taking. As a result I'm still finding myself reading and re-reading novels and theoretical texts that were set during my undergraduate years!
It wasn't until the final semester of third year that my interests collided, thanks to the good fortune of taking a course by my future (Honours) supervisor, Dr Audrey Yue, who encouraged me to explore intellectual passions and cultural observations that I had previously thought impossible within the university framework. In a sense this was the start of a union / collision between my creative sensibilities and theoretical discourses that continues to inform my work.
My fortune continued into my postgraduate work, largely thanks to the graciousness, creative support and intellectual guidance of Marion May Campbell, Head of Creative Writing. Again I was trusted to explore the academic form - in this case a Masters thesis - with both creative freedom and intellectual rigour - two qualities that I believe nurture the most interesting and original work.
Marion also instigated a monthly seminar that created a community of peers, many of whom I now consider friends as well as colleagues, and provided me with my first of many teaching roles - experiences that I cherish and skills that help me to this day."
Ella Holcombe
Ella Holcombe completed her Honours year in Creative Writing under the supervision of Kevin Brophy. Ella's first collection of poetry, Welcome/No Vacancy, was recently published by Five Islands Press as part of their New Poets Series. Ella's poem 'The Storm' was awarded first place in the John Marsden Competition, presented by Express Media, and in 2006 she presented her work at the Melbourne Emerging Writers' Festival. Her work also appears in the Sleepers Almanac 2007: The Family Affair, Voiceworks 68: Rat-Race, the Tarralla Anthology 2006 and Voiceworks 65: Genre. Her poems detail the strangely intertwined lives of humans, houses, skeletons, and broken umbrellas.
Photo: Ros Lethbridge
M.J. Hyland
Writer
"I grew up in a house without books, raised by people who didn't read. By the time I arrived at university, I'd read only the books set as school texts and a handful of books given to me by the teacher I lived with (secretly) in my final year of high school.
I arrived at the English Department (and Law School) with a head full of nothing and a big ego fed by the fact that I had already had a short story published. I was profoundly ignorant - without models (or morals). But then, a succession of good teachers introduced me, with generosity and intelligence, to some of the writers who, over the next fifteen years or so, taught me how to write: Ibsen, Beckett, Pinter, Kafka, Sophocles, Camus and Chekhov. And I learnt that reading closely (with a pen in hand), analysing and understanding good books, and reading good books often, is a more certain road to happiness than watching TV or having the same conversation with the same people over and over again. I began to think in the English Department. I was made happier."
Publications
- Carry Me Down (2006)
- How the Light Gets In (2003)
Henry Von Doussa
Author
"Coming from the University of South Australia to The University of Melbourne was a wonderful experience in many ways. Architecturally the campus is exquisite, and much larger than I could have imagined; a village in itself that was both daunting and exciting.
After growing up dyslexic and starting university life as a very tentative mature age student, I found the support at The University of Melbourne very good. I was put in touch with the Learning Skills Unit, where I was given useful practical support and encouragement.
The connections I made with lecturers and supervisors are ongoing and continue to assist me in my work as a writer."
Publications
- The Park Bench (2005)