Background
Lee Cataldi was born in Sydney during World World War II when, owing to her Italian heritage, she was technically an "enemy alien".
Lee Cataldi was born in Sydney during World World War II when, owing to her Italian heritage, she was technically an "enemy alien".
As a child she lived in Hobart, moving back to Sydney for university. Cataldi has worked as a teacher and a linguist, on Indigenous Australian languages in Halls Creek, Alice Springs and Balgo. Cataldi"s first book of poems, Invitation to a Marxist lesbian party, was published in 1978, winning the Anne Elder Memorial Prize in that year.
In 1998 Cataldi travelled to Madras, India, for an Asialink Literature Residency.
She currently lives in South Australia.
In the late sixties she travelled to Italy and England where she became a socialist, inspired by the 68 May uprising in France.
