MS 6422
Papers of Cheryl Creatrix (1948- )
- Papers
- 1971-1981
- 1.68 metres (12 boxes)
- Restricted
The papers were purchased by the Library in 1978 and 1982.
The collection consists of editorial correspondence with Australian
and overseas poets, original manuscripts in all the various stages
through to publication in New Poetry or by Prism Books,
material relating to the leaflet/magazine Beyond Poetry
and the highly successful series of poetry readings at the Opera
House, and minutes of meetings of the Poetry Society of Australia,
covering the years 1973-76 when Creatrix was secretary.
The vast number of letters in the collection are mainly editorial
and business, with very little personal material included. As
editor of New Poetry and Prism Books, Creatrix accumulated
handwritten and typescript drafts and galley proofs of the many
contributions to these publishing ventures. Contributors to Prism
Books included David Malouf, Dorothy Hewett, Robert Adamson, and
Sylvia Kantarizis.
The material on the Opera House poetry readings contains references
to many leading Australian poets, including Judith Wright, A.D.
Hope, Rosemary Dobson, David Campbell, Dorothy Hewett, Rodney
Hall, Robert Adamson, and John Tranter. There are also details
of the poetry tour of Robert Duncan.
Cheryl Creatrix, poet, editor and publisher of New Poetry,
the magazine of the Poetry Society of Australia, and editor
of Prism Books, was born in 1948 at Tamworth. She left school
in 1965, and spent two years in Arnhem Land.
While attending the film school at Balmain, Creatrix met and married
poet Robert Adamson. They separated in 1977. As co-editors, the
Adamsons achieved success in the 1970s with their Poetry Society
publishing ventures. Under the auspices of the Society, Creatrix
organised and directed the best attended poetry readings ever
staged in Australia, and with Robert Adamson, organised, at their
own expense, an extensive tour of Australia by the American poet
Robert Duncan.
Ms Adamson was interviewed by Hazel de Berg in 1977 for the National
Library's oral history program (Oral De B 1038-1039). Some of
her publications include Misch Masch, New Poetry, and Leatherjacket.
Creatrix was included in an anthology of poetry Up from below:
poems of the 1980s, published in 1987.
Series
- Correspondence, 1971-81
- New Poetry, 1975-78
- Beyond Poetry, 1974-5
- Prism Books, 1976-77
- Miscellaneous writing
- Poetry Society of Australia, 1973-76
- Poetry readings, 1975-76
- Robert Adamson
- Miscellaneous, 1972-79
Series 1. Correspondence, 1971-81
Most of the correspondence in this series comprises business letters
relating to Poetry Society publications. Although the bulk of
the letters have been organized in date order in this series,
there are letters to be found throughout the collection. Letters
dealing entirely with the magazine Beyond Poetry are in
the third series, and some letters with contributions to New
Poetry attached are in the second series.
The principal correspondents are listed in Appendix 1. The correspondence
with David Brooks, the US-Canadian representative of New Poetry
covers the years 1975-80.
Folders
1 1971-74
2 1975
3-4 1976
5-6 1977
7 1978
8 1979
9 1980-81
10-12 Undated correspondence
Series 2. New poetry, 1975-78
New Poetry, which first appeared in 1971, was Australia's
leading poetry magazine, publishing an extensive range of contemporary
poetry from well known Australian and overseas poets, as well
as lesser-known new writers and previously unpublished ones. As
editor in the years 1976-78 Creatrix accumulated drafts, galley
proofs and published copies of the magazine. Some of the typescripts
have covering notes from writers including David Campbell, Fay
Zwicky, and Robert Creely. Contributions from David Malouf, Tim
Thorne, Philip Roberts, Sylvia Kantarizis, Richard Harland, Denise
Leverton, Alexander Craig and Nevill Drury are in folder 21.
The Adamsons organized and financed a reading tour by the American
poet Robert Duncan in September 1975. The material relating to
the tour, including correspondence and an itinerary, is in folder
27.
Folders
1 Letters and contributions, 1976
2 Letters and contributions, 1977-78
3 Book of carbons of correspondence, 1977
4 New Poetry - vol 23 no 2 - mock-up
5 - vol 24 no 1 - typescripts
6 - vol 24 no 4 - typescripts
7 - vol 25 no 3 - issue + typescripts
8 - vol 25 no 4 - issue + typescripts
9 - vol 26 no 1 - letters + issue +
typescripts
10 - vol 26 nos 2-4 - issues + galleys
11 - vol 27 no 1 - letters + issue +
typescripts
12 - vol 27 no 2 - typescripts
13-18 - galleys
19-20 - Annotated copy
21 - Listed contributions
22-24 - Unlisted contributions
25-26 Miscellaneous
27 Poetry tour by Robert Duncan, 1975
Series 3. Beyond poetry, 1974-5
This leaflet style magazine, appearing as often as finances allowed,
was published eight times by Creatrix and Chris Edwards. Rosemary
Dobson's and David Campbell's parallel versions of four short
poems by the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam are included, with a
suggested layout for their publication. There are two letters
from Dobson on the subject among the sixty letters in the series.
Correspondents include Jeff Geddes, Henri Quin, Sylvia Kantarizis,
Bob Harris, John Millet and Donald Hall.
An annotated manuscript review by John Byrnes of the first two
issues is included. John Millett, Mark McGuire, Max Williams and
Cheryl Adamson contributed to the second edition.
Folders
1 Issues of Beyond Poetry
2 Letters, 1974-5
3 Letters and contributions
Series 4. Prism books,1976-77
Creatrix edited Prism Books, one of the publishing arms of the
Poetry Society of Australia. There are all the stages of development
of manuscripts through to publication in this series, including
mock-ups and galleys. Writers published by Prism and represented
in the collection, include Dorothy Hewett, Max Williams, Jennifer
Maiden, Sylvia Kantarizis, Tim Thorne, K.L. Macrae, Dorothy Porter,
Stephen Murray, David Malouf, and Robert Adamson.
There is also a scrapbook of reviews, including Poor man's
bean, Rapunzel in suburbia, The dragon principle, Little Hoodlum,
The amazing scaffold, and The Venice poem (Robert Duncan).
Folders
1 Dorothy Hewett - 'Rapunzel in suburbia' (1976)
2 Max Williams - 'The poor man's bean' (1976)
3 Jennifer Maiden - 'The problem of evil' (1976)
Sylvia Kantarizis - 'Time & motion'(1976)
4 Tim Thorne - 'New foundations' (1976)
5 K.L. Macrae - 'The amazing scaffold' (1976)
6 Dorothy Porter - 'Little hoodlum' (1976)
7 Stephen Murray - 'The dragon principle' (1976)
David Malouf - 'Poems 1975-76' (1977)
8 Robert Adamson - 'Across the border' (1977)
9 Dorothy Porter - 'Bison'
10 Sylvia Kantarizis - typescripts
11 Scrapbook of reviews
(Publication dates are in brackets)
Series 5. Miscellaneous writing
The miscellaneous series consists of unpublished poems, plays
and prose, works published but not by Prism, and works whose publishing
history is uncertain.
With the poems of American Ken Liberman is Desert Roads, and
a letter to Cheryl Adamson telling of his intention to publish
his Australian poems himself. There are two plays of Dorothy Hewett,
one noted as a 'working script'. This play titled "The chapel
perilous" was published by Currency Press in 1972. "The
big time" is a feature film treatment of the true story of
champion boxer Les Darcy, by Norman Ingram. Ingram's letter to
Creatrix about publishing it is included. There is a handwritten
draft of Space Warp by Dal Stivens, published by Wild &
Woolly. Also in the series are some 'alternative' publications,
Zilch, and Dadactic.
Folders
1 Ken Liberman - Desert roads
John Montgomery - 'Embers: poems that glow'
2 Stephen Murray - 'New South Switzerland'
3 Stephen Scheding - 'December 13'
4 Dorothy Hewett - 'The chapel perilous'
Dorothy Hewett - 'The knight of the long knives'
5 Norman Ingram - 'The big time'
6 Richard Tipping - The image
Jeff Geddes - 'Messages from bottles washed up on empty
beaches'
Max Williams - 'On the wing'
Steve Walker - 'A coastal town'
7 'Memoirs of a protestant girlhood'
8 Dal Stivens - 'Space warp'
9 Leatherjacket, Abbeys Broadsheets, Zilch, Dadactic
Series 6. Poetry Society of Australia, 1973-76
The Society's minutes for the four years 1973-76, and the audited
statements for 1973-75 are included. The minutes of the poetry
meeting of 7 July 1975 are attached to transcripts of poems to
be read.
Correspondence is included in folder 3. There is a letter from
Rosemary Dobson to Robert Adamson concerning a new Brindabella
Press publication Gold coins.
Folders
1 Minutes of Society meetings, 1973-76
Audited accounts, financial statements, 1973-75
2 Poetry meeting 7 July 1975 - minutes and transcripts
3 Papers, including correspondence
Series 7. Poetry readings, 1975-76
The series of four booked-out poetry readings in the Music Room
of the Opera House, organised by Creatrix under the auspices of
the Poetry Society of Australia, included Judith Wright, A.D.
Hope, Rosemary Dobson, David Campbell, Dorothy Hewett, Rodney
Hall, Robert Adamson and John Tranter. Perfomances were on 4 March,
7 June, 5 September and 9 December 1975.
The series consists of correspondence, including letters from
Hope and Dobson, a scrapbook, and administrative papers. There
is a folder of material relating to other poetry readings.
Folders
1-2 Correspondence,. administrative papers, scrapbook
3 Subscriptions
4 Invoices, receipts, and payments
5 Other poetry readings
Series 8. Robert Adamson
Some personal material of Robert Adamson is in the collection
: his application for a Literature Board Fellowship, a letter
of congratulations from Richard Walsh for his 1978 Grace Leven
poetry prize, and letters from Les Murray concerning contributions
for an Australian edition of an American magazine New Letters.
Adamson's brief diary covering 6-16 February (1976?) has loose
pages of notes and biographical information compiled for his book
Cross the Border.
Folders
1 Correspondence, photographs
2 'Where I come from' (typescript)
3 'Selected poems' (typescript and review)
4 Diary
5 Notebook - handwritten poems
Series 9. Miscellaneous, 1972-79
There are two folders in this series, a miscellaneous one, and
a collection of reviews and interviews from the Sydney Morning
Herald and the Australian. Most of the reviews were
written by Robert Adamson.
The miscellaneous folder consists of single copies of Togatus,
and Faikava (April 1978), publicity notices for forthcoming
publications, exhibitions, and poetry readings, and information
sheets on the history of Berowra and the Windybank family.
Folders
1 Newspaper reviews, interviews
2 Miscellaneous
Box Series Folder
1 1 1-7
2 1 8-12
3 2 1-7
4 2 8-12
5 2 13-18
6 2 19-24
7 2 25-27
7 3 1-3
8 4 1-7
9 4 8-11
10 5 1-9
11 6 1-4
11 7 1-5
12 8 1-5
12 9 1-2
Select list of Correspondents
Bill Beard Thomas Shapcott
Geoffrey Dutton Robert Harris
Bruce Beaver John Tranter
Robert Bertholf Eve Abbey
Rosemary Dobson Ron Blair
David Campbell Rodney Hall
Bruce Dawe Garry Hutchinson
Jim Davidson John Jenkins
Fay Zwicky Jan Harry
Gwen Harwood John Millet
Albee Thomas Michael McClure
Vicki Viidikas Jennifer Maiden
Judith Wright Roger McDonald
Max Williams Finola Moorhead
Clive Evatt Stephen Murray-Smith
Alan Wearne Judith Rodriguez
Stephanie Bennett Ian Reid
Tony Coleing Richard Tipping
Jimmy Taylor Robert Duncan
John Blight Tim Thorne
Terry Gillmore John Caitlin
Sylvia Kantarizis Michael Denholm
Andrew Taylor Vidya Sharma
Vincent Buckley Bill Jones
Ron Simpson John Montgomery
John Blay David Brooks
Chris Wallace-Crabbe Stephen Murray
Guide prepared October 1995. Last updated 12 July 1996
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