Les Wicks
Les Wicks is an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He has published more than fifteen books of poetry.
Early life and education
Wicks grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. He studied for a Bachelor of Arts in Asian and Australian History at Macquarie University and worked at a variety of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs while living in Sydney and London.In the late 1970s, he established Meuse Press which mixed text and graphics. He helped set up the Poets Union of Australia in New South Wales. From the 1980s, he worked as a union industrial advocate for several unions after obtaining qualifications in Industrial Law from the University of Sydney.
Selected bibliography
- The Vanguard Sleeps In
- Cannibals
- Tickle
- Nitty Gritty
- The Ways of Waves
- Appetites of Light
- Stories of the Feet
- The Ambrosiacs
- Shadows of the Read English/Ukrainian
- Barking Wings
- Sea of Heartbeak
- El Asombrado English/Spanish
- Getting By Not Fitting In
- Belief
- Time Taken – New and Selected
As editor/co-editor or organised
- 2024 * Class Meuse Press
- 2022 * Meuse Press
- 2018 * "To End All Wars"
- 2015 * Meuse Press
- 2011 "AU/UA: Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine and Australia" Meuse Press
- 2010 "from this Broken Hill" Meuse Press
- 2009 * Meuse Press
- 2000–2008 co-organiser Poets on Wheels.
- 2002 Heritage Light including publishing a poem on the surface of a river.
- 1999–date editor of Australian Poetry Collaboration
- 1998–2003 Written in Sand Project Meuse Press.
- 1999–2000 editor of Hobo.
- 1993 to date director of Island Press.
- 1992–1999 Artransit Project Meuse Press.
- 1985 Musicians Union Band Guide. 1978.
- 1984–1997 to Senior Industrial Officer Musicians Union & Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance.
- 1990–93 Sec. NSW ALP Communications & Leisure Policy Committee. –
- 1977–1981 Meuse Press Magazine, supplements & anthologies.
- Part of Poets Union of Australia original steering committee, Jnt Sec./Treas., Federal Secretary 1983.