Interview with Caitlin Maling – Poet

Caitlin Maling is a Fremantle poet whose previous collections, Conversations I’ve Never Had (2015), Border Crossing (2017) and Fish Song (2019) were published by Fremantle Press to great acclaim.

Her latest collection, Spore or Seed is also about to be published by Fremantle Press. It’s a collection of poems that charts Caitlin’s experiences on becoming and being a mother, and so much more besides.

In 2019 Caitlin was awarded her doctorate in literature from University of Sydney. Her poetry and non-fiction has been published widely through Australia, the US and the UK. She is the previous recipient of the Marten Bequest in poetry and grants from the Australia Council and the Department of Culture and the Arts, Western Australia.

Her work has been published in Australian Poetry, Best Australian Poetry, Westerly, Island, Meanjin, Threepenny Review, Green Mountains Review, Australian Book Review, Prairie Schooner and The Australian among others. A previous recipient of the John Marsden Poetry Prize, in 2014 she was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize and won the Harri Jones Memorial Prize of the Newcastle Poetry Prize.

Her first collection Conversations I’ve Never Had was developed through residencies at The Varuna Centre, Yaddo, VCCA and Santa Fe Art Institute and was published by Fremantle Press in early 2015.  It was shortlisted for the Dame Mary Gilmore Award and in the WA Premier’s Book Awards.

A follow up collection ‘Border Crossing’ was released in 2017. Poems from this collection were commended in the Newcastle Poetry Prize and won the Val Vallis Award.

Her third collection Fish Song was released in 2019 thanks to funding from the Department of Culture and the Arts (WA) and the Dorothy Hewett Flagship Fellowship.

A fourth collection, Fish Work, was released in 2021 after being highly commended in the 2020 Dorothy Hewett Awards with UWA Press.

As mentioned, Caitlin’s fifth and latest collection is Spore or Seed.  

Caitlin grew up in and around Fremantle. Since then she has lived around Australia, the US and the UK. She now teaches creative writing at Curtin University in Perth and keeps very busy as a much in demand poet.

Caitlin was recently awarded the inaugural McAuley Fellowship by the University of Tasmania, which honours the Australian poet, James McCauley. Our Editor, Michael Barker, caught up with Caitlin between her U of T commitments to make this podcast where we talk about Caitlin’s career to date, her poetry, the state of poetry in Australia, and Spores or Seed. It’s a refreshing discussion you won’t want to miss.

While you’re here –

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Here’s the PODCAST. Enjoy!