Dorothea Mackellar, OBE was an Australian poet and writer of fiction who has been credited with the composition of what is, arguably, Australia’s best loved poem. She wrote the patriotic My Country in 1904 when she was in England and the wistful, plaintive tone of the poem leaves the reader in no doubt how homesick she was for the country she loved. Her “bush” poetry ...
David Mallet was an 18th century Scottish poet and dramatist. He changed his name from Malloch when he moved to London in 1723, and has been described by some historians as an “unpopular” Scotsman. Perhaps the Scots did not like the fact that he anglicised his name. One of his most famous pieces of work was a masque called Alfred, co-written in 1740 ...
Bob Flanagan was an American poet and musician who was also known as a performance artist, often specialising in sado-masochistic acts. He was born on the 26th December 1952 in New York City but the family moved to Glendale, California not long after Bob was born. He was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when very young and his doctors did not think he would ...
Amos Bronson Alcott was a 19th century American writer, philosopher and experimental teacher. In his educational role he turned the traditional teaching method on its head, preferring to engage his students in conversation rather than being the autocratic figure at the front lecturing to a silent class. He had a great social conscience outside of the classroom as well, being a champion ...
Catherine Pozzi was a French poet who lived her life in and around the literary salons of Paris, befriending many famous artists and writers along the way. She had a good start in life, coming from a cultured and wealthy family. She was a keen and regular diarist and she kept a journal of her life that ran to some forty volumes. It ...
Capel Lofft, his first name sometimes written as Capell, was an English lawyer but he supplemented this with occasional forays into writing poetry. He had outspoken political views and campaigned against those causes that he felt strongly about. He belonged to the Whig party and was considered to have “Foxite” tendencies within that party. Lofft came from a family of intellectuals and scholars, ...
Carl Michael Bellman was an 18th century Swedish poet and musician who also holds a significant position in the history of his country’s song writing tradition. He was held in high regard by King Gustav III of Sweden who called him “the master improviser”. His two most famous pieces of work were collections of poetry that were set to music. Fredman’s Songs and ...
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton was a very well connected 19th century writer who became famous as a fervent supporter of women’s rights following an acrimonious divorce case which involved her husband attempting to sue her close friend Lord Melbourne, who happened to be the Whig Prime Minister at the time. She campaigned vigorously against the injustices that women had to suffer in family ...
Caroline Carleton was a 19th century, English-born poet who emigrated to South Australia. She is famous for the words of Song of Australia which was adopted in South Australian schools and other places as a patriotic song. In 1977 it made a shortlist of four to select a National Song for Australia. She was born Caroline Baynes on the 6th October 1811 in ...
Lady Carolina Nairne was the author of many of what have become Scotland’s best known songs but much of her work has been attributed since to other writers such as Walter Scott or Robert Burns. She wrote many Jacobite songs such as Will Ye No Come Back Again and Charlie is My Darling, the latter being a title much used in ...
