Gwen Harwood: Contents page

Gwen Harwood (1920–95) was born in Brisbane, Queensland. Her father played the piano and violin, and Gwen took piano lessons, hoping to become a musician. She became a music teacher in Brisbane. She learned German and read widely in German poetry and philosophy, especially the philosophical writings of Wittgenstein. She married William Harwood in 1945 and moved to Tasmania, where she raised four children. She used the pseudonyms Walter Lehmann and Miriam Stone when she first began to publish poetry. Her first book was Poems (1963), and she published six more books of verse. She was awarded the Robert Frost award (1977) and the Patrick White (1978). Her fourth book Bone Scan (1989) won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize for poetry. She received Honorary Doctorates of Letters from the Universities of Queensland, Tasmania and La Trobe.