Grant Caldwell

Background

Grant Caldwell was born on March 6, 1947, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Education

Caldwell completed a degree in economics and a teaching qualification at the University of Melbourne. He later earned a Master of Arts (Research) in English from the University of Melbourne in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Deakin University in 2012.

Career

After working as a secondary school teacher for three years, Caldwell lived in London, England, where he worked as an accountant. He subsequently lived in Morocco and Ibiza, Spain, devoting himself to writing poetry and fiction. After returning to Australia, he spent fifteen years in Sydney before returning to Melbourne.

His poetry and fiction have been published widely in Australia and internationally, including in Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States. His work has been translated into Bengali, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Arabic.

Caldwell began teaching Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne in 1995. After teaching part-time for many years, he received full-time tenure in 2008. He later served as Head of the Creative Writing Program and as Deputy Head of the School of Culture and Communication in 2018. He has also held the position of Honorary Senior Fellow in the Faculty of Arts.

From 2007 to 2010 he was Managing Editor of Blue Dog, the Australian Poetry Centre's refereed national poetry journal. He was an inaugural board member of the Australian Poetry Centre, a committee member of Melbourne's successful UNESCO City of Literature bid, and a member of the steering committee for the Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas (The Wheeler Centre).

Caldwell has published articles in scholarly journals in Australia, Canada, Japan, and India. He has represented Australia at international poetry festivals in China, Colombia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Achievements

• Caldwell has published twelve books, including eight collections of poetry, two novels, a collection of short stories, and a critical monograph. His notable works include The Nun Wore Sunglasses (1984), Revolt of the Coats (1988), Malabata (1991), Love & Derangement (2014), Reflections of a Temporary Self: New & Selected Poems (2015), Intention and Unintention or the Hyperconscious in Contemporary Lyric Impulse (2018), blue balloon (2020), The Routledge Global Haiku Reader (co-editor, 2024), and the soundless sound (2025).
  
  His books have been nominated for The Age Book of the Year Award and a Human Rights Award.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Routledge Global Haiku Reader

    (by James Shea (Editor), Grant Caldwell (Editor))

    2024

  • Intention and Unintention or the Hyperconscious in Contemporary Lyric Impulse

    2018
  • Love & Derangement 2014
  • The Nun Wore Sunglasses 1984
  • Revolt of the Coats 1988
  • Malabata 1991

  • the soundless sound

    2025

  • Reflections of a Temporary Self: New & Selected Poems

    2015

  • blue balloon

    2020

Membership

Caldwell has been associated with several literary and professional organizations, including the Australian Poetry Centre, where he served as an inaugural board member. He has also been a member of Poetry Australia and the Australasian Association of Writing Programs.

References

• https://www.unimelb.edu.au
• Grant Caldwell – The Conversation Grant Caldwell’s profile on The Conversation