Poetry Bio for Jennifer Phillips

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Jennifer Kathleen Phillips was born in the fifties in New Zealand. Her mother read a range of books to her and her siblings, including nursery rhymes. When she was five she was given a story book writen in poetry that she loved. On their many car trips they played rhyming and other word games. When she was about 7 a friend gave her a little china deer and a card that said, "A wee deer for a dear". This astounded her and inspired her to think of other interesting things about words and word patterns. Although she had a growing love for words it wasn't until she was 12 years old that she wrote her first poem. She was encouraged by a family friend to publish it which she did. It was published in the children's section of the "Wellington Evening Post" (view). Subsequently she had and continues to have her poems, stories and art works published in magazines, news papers, and on the radio and internet.

At the age of 13 she shifted to Australia where she continued to publish her poems in newspapers and magazines and studied poetry analysing the content and form of well known poets such as Judith Wright, who was her favourite poet (link). By the time she left school she had developed a poetic philosophy.

She returned to New Zealand and studied at teachers college majoring in Art and maths. She also did a ten week poetry course. Here she used the language of poetics to analyse poems, critically compared poems and study sound effects. She created anthologies, looked at poetry in other subject areas, shared poems and prepared poetry lessons for children. She created large cards to share poems visually (view).

In 1973 Dr. Guy Jansen, who was then the director of music education for schools in New Zealand, spoke to her about publishing a book on the philosophy, influences and direction of her arts. He invited her to the upcoming Canterbury Arts workshop, a creative event for some of the potentially most gifted secondary school artists in the South Island. It opened her eyes to the possibilities of holding similar multimedia events. A few Poyema art workshops were subsequently organized for some of the recognized New Zealand Christian artists in various fields and she was invited as a visual artist. This also contributed to her desire to present using more than one media (view).
In 1974 after three years art study at Teachers College she produced a book containing some of her philosophies and gave a multimedia presentation of her work using available analog systems. The multimedia presentation included sound effects, poetry, prose, music and images. She used slides and played a tape. The slides included an animated dance sequence created by rapidly displaying a sequence of photos she had taken of a dancer. The tape contained music, sounds, words and sentences. In the book, "With Whom In Mind" each of the chapters was presented in images or text depending on who the chapter had in mind, eg. The chapter called "With Children In Mind" was visually presented. The chapter called "With Teachers In Mind" was presented using questions. The chapter called "With Creativity In Mind" contained a textured poem playing with the word 'create' (view).

She has since taught a variety of subjects to all ages in a vaietry of settings Preschool, Kindergarten, Primary School, High School, College and Adults, teaching individual private lessons as well as groups and classes and giving lectures.

She was the only Hawkes Bay poet to receive a prize in the "Rod McKuen Poetry Competition" (1975) and her poem "Nothing is hidden" was read on Hawkes Bay Radio (view). While in Hawkes Bay along with others, she read her poetry at some of the monthly meetings at the "Cat 'n Fiddle Pub" in Hastings.

In 1983 she published her first book of poetry "In His Time." She has since published 4 more containing a range of her poems, songs and artworks. (view)

Her poem "Yesterday's Pain, Today's Growth" was published as a full page on the back cover of the "Reaper" magazine. October-November 1986, vol.68, No.5. (view)

In the 1980's she began using the computer and found it an effective medium for creating visual poems. Her first visual poems using the computer were published in 1992 (view)

In 1999 Jennifer created collaborative writings online and spoke in poetry in chat rooms. She aslo began publishing her poems on a range of Internet sites including:

nzwriters.co.nz
kiwiwriterscafe.com
www.ozpoetisociety.com
The curious record
www.wowwomen.com
www.daypoems.net
www.poetry.com
http://www.everypoet.net
http://totempress.bravehost.com

2001 - Her poem "Australian Gum Trees" was published in "Bending Light" and received an Editors Choice Award (ISBN 0-7951-5029-6).

"In His Hands" published in "Charisma" 24/25 February Issue 8/01

"How beautiful is love" publsihed in "Charisma" 21/22 April, Issue 16/01

In 2002 Jennifer started creating animated poetry. In April that year she was the guest poet at a New Zealand Wine evening in Canberra. She shared her poetry with 115 guests (photo). She was also invited to share her poetry journey with a class of Canberra College students.

She was invited to speak to a High School poetry class. View

In 2003 Jennifer was invited to share her poems with a group of women at a ladies retreat in a Baptist Church in South Canberra.

"Go Like A Song" published in "St. James parish Family Magazine". No. 12 February 2003. P.11

In 2006 Jennifer gave a poetry reading at St. James Anglican Church in Holt, to celebrate Australia Day. She also shared some of her poetry on 2XX radio and was interviewed as a guest poet as part of the ANU Writers Poetry Slam talkback session.

IIn 2007 Jennifer finally created some interactive poetry that had been in her mind to do since making her first animated poem. One of her poems was translated into Romainina and qn article was written by Aprilia Zank and published in a Romanian literary magazine (view).

(2006 - 2008) Jennifer's animated poem "Hair Here" was featured in the New Media Highlights section of eSCENE 36 by Walter Cummins, where he shows "the best of the literary web".

In 2008 Jennifer was interviewed by Anna Carr about Digital Poetics and Aprilia Zank about concrete poetry. Aprilia's interview was published on the Muenchen University website. Jennifer's concrete poem "start" was used in a Pre Christmas church service (photo).

2009
14.6.2009 Jennifer's poem "Gum Tree" featured as the weekly poem on www.ozpoeticsociety.com
and on 21.6.2009 her concrete poem "Control" was featured.

Jennifer was invited by Lina Ali to share some of her poetry with 3 year 10 classes at Amaroo School. Lina introduced her. Jennifer shared a range of her poems, speaking some, showing some with the help of the smart board and performing some with the help of some of the students (Photo 1 , Photo 2).

Aprilia Zank's article containing an interview about her concrete poetry was published in an online literary magazine called EgoPhobia. (View)


2010

17.1.2010. Jennifer's acrostic poem "Greed" was featured as the weekly poem on www.ozpoeticsociety.com
"Peeling" was promoted on 24/01/2010 on the Ozpoetic society web site.

In September, Jennifer was asked to read one of her poems at St. James Church in Canberra. It can be viewed on youtube.

Her poem called "cradled" was the digital poem for the week of September 14th � 20th 2010 on www.giftedkidsnetwork.com

Her early "Peace" poem featured on http://sharlenegodlove.narod.ru/peace-poem.html

2011

8.10.2011. Jenifer shared a poem at the St. James Ladies retreat in Galong (view).

29.10.2011 Sharing her poem at St. James Church in Holt, ACT. (View)

2012
"I Love This Gum Treed Country" was featured as the weekly poem on 5th February on the Ozpoetic society web site.
10/6/12 Shared "In Uison" visual concrete poem at St. James Church, Holt, ACT, Australia

Published her 5th poetry book: "Word Power Poetry & Poetics: visual digital & concrete"
Preview

2013
15.1.2013 "Rocking the Boat" was featured on the home page of Endtime Poetry
21.9.2013 Jennifer shared three poems from my latest book at the Gold Coast Writers Association AGM during their open mike session.

2014
20.7.2014 Jennifer shared three poems at the Poetry In Paradise Gold Coast meeting.
28.7.2014 "The Master Mind - Ephesians" was one of the poems featured on the PoetrySoup home page.
"Forgiveness" and "Wing to wing" were published in The Curious Record, Edition #40, October, 2014

2015
16.8.2015 Jennifer poem "Give us this day ..." was published in the Nerang Anglican Church pew sheet and used in an article by Rev. C Holmes (view).

For more highlights of Jennifer's public life, visit the Media Coverage web Page.

2016
Gold Coast Writers' eWriteabout - June 2016 Showcased my visual poem "Control"

2020
Winner of the Gold Coast Writters Association 2020 Poetry competition. Her poem "I love This Gum Treed Country" was published in their 2020 Anthology Volume 11 "Short Yarns For Big Imaginations"

2023
Janurary: 4 poems published in "Our Poetry Archive" - "Culturally Coloured," "Easter Gift," "One Of A Kind," and "Living Art"

April: 2 Poems published in " The Voice in the Paint: The Blood Speaks: Symbolism of the Poppy in Prophetic Paintings" by Wendy Manzo

Magazine publications with her poetry include:

The Curious Record EDITION #40 October 2014. "Forgiveness" P.8. "Wing To Wing" P.9.
"Are you thirsty Lord", St. James Holt Hamily Magazine, December 2011, page 8
"You Can Let The Word Go", St. James Holt Family Magazine, September 2011, page 21
Jurnalul Literar.Serie noua, an XVIII, nr, 5-8 March - April 2007 Page 19. "Poezii din cinci continente" by Aprillia Zank   (view)
eSCENE 36 best of the LITERARY JOURNALS (2006 - 2008) by Walter Cummins 
The Curious Record 21st EDITION - June 2008. "Whyless" P. 17
The Curious Record BEST OF THE BEST: VOL II - February 2008
The Curious Record 19th EDITION - October 2007. "1 2 3 4 5"
The Curious Record 17th EDITION - February 2007
The Curious Record 16th EDITION - October 2006
The Curious Record 13th EDITION - October 2005
The Curious Record BEST OF THE BEST: VOL I - October 2004
The Curious Record 3rd EDITION - June 2002
The Curious Record 2nd EDITION - February 2002
Charisma. 21/22 April. 2001. Issue 16/01
Charisma. 21/22 April. 2001. Issue 16/01
Charisma. 24/25 February. 2001. Issue 8/01
Reaper. October-November 1986, vol.68, No.5. view
People. July 16. 1969. Page 39 view

Interviews

2009 EgoPhobia
2008 Digital Poetics - Interview with Anna Carr (Download pdf 48kb )
2008 Poetry -- an endangered species ? - Interview with Aprilia Zank (Download pdf 259k)

 

Online comments include:


http://www.daf.uni-muenche

Aprilia Zank comment about Jennifer Phillips' concrete poetry

http://dichthauer.blogspot.com

http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/poetrytrend.html

http://www.poemofquotes.com/articles/concrete-poetry.php

 



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