John Thompson (Australian poet)

John Joseph Meagher Thompson, known as John Thompson, (20 December 1907 – 19 July 1968) was an Australian poet, writer and radio broadcaster.

John Thompson
BornJohn Joseph Meagher Thompson
(1907-12-20)20 December 1907
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Died19 July 1968(1968-07-19) (aged 60)
Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia
Occupationpoet and broadcaster
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAustralian
Notable worksThirty Poems
Notable awardsGrace Leven Prize for Poetry
Years active1944–1968

Thompson was born in Kew, Victoria, Australia.[1] He was educated at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a BA in 1929. In 1931 he travelled to London, where he attempted to make a living as a writer.[2]

He was awarded the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry for his collection Thirty Poems in 1954 and wrote poetry throughout his adult life.[1]

He met and married Patricia Drakeford Cole in 1938 and worked at a number of jobs before returning to Australia in early 1939. The couple landed in Perth, Western Australia, where Thompson got a job as an announcer with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In December 1942 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, serving in Australia in an educational capacity, before being discharged from the army on 2 August 1945 to work as a war correspondent for the ABC.[2]

After the war he settled in Sydney where he became a senior feature writer and producer at the ABC and where he remained until retirement in 1968.[2]

Thompson and his wife had one son, the film critic Peter Thompson, and adopted another, the actor Jack Thompson. He died in 1968.[1]

Bibliography

Poetry collections
  • Three Dawns Ago (1935)
  • Sesame and Other Poems (1944)
  • Thirty Poems (1954)
  • I Hate and I Love : Poems (1964)

Anthologies

Non-fiction
  • Hubbub in Java (1946) history and politics
  • On Lips of Living Men (1962) biography
  • Five to Remember (1964) biography

References
  1. Austlit – John Thompson
  2. Australian Dictionary of Biography – "Thompson, John Joseph (1907–1968)" by Peter Kirkpatrick


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