{{short description|Australian poet}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Melinda Smith''' (born 1971) is an Australian poet.
Smith won the poetry section of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards in 2014 for her collection ''Drag Down to Unlock or Place an Emergency Call''.<ref>[http://arts.gov.au/topics/pms-literary-awards/past-prime-ministers-literary-awards/2014-winners 2014 Prime Minister's Literary Award winners] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304110328/http://arts.gov.au/topics/pms-literary-awards/past-prime-ministers-literary-awards/2014-winners |date=2015-03-04 }} Retrieved 7 January 2015.</ref> The award citation said, "From its range of technique and tone to its depth of ideas, imagery and emotion, this collection announces the arrival of a major new poet."<ref>[http://arts.gov.au/shortlists/Poetry/DragDowntoUnlockorPlaceanEmergencyCall Judges' Comments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103052154/http://arts.gov.au/shortlists/Poetry/DragDowntoUnlockorPlaceanEmergencyCall |date=2015-11-03 }} Retrieved 7 January 2015.</ref>
She was the Poetry Editor of ''The Canberra Times'' between June 2015 and June 2017.<ref>{{cite web|title=Melinda Smith|url=https://legalworkshop.law.anu.edu.au/alumni/alumni-profiles/melinda-smith|website=ANU Legal Workshop|accessdate=18 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218144258/https://legalworkshop.law.anu.edu.au/alumni/alumni-profiles/melinda-smith|archive-date=18 February 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Smith lives in Canberra with her partner and their two sons. One of their sons has been diagnosed with autism, which has been the subject of many of her poems, including the entire collection ''First...Then... : Poems from Planet Autism''.<ref>George Thomas, "Woman Alive", ''Quadrant'', July–August 2014, pp. 139-40.</ref>
==Poetry collections== * ''Pushing Thirty, Wearing Seventeen'' (Ginninderra Press, 2001) * ''Mapless in Underland'' (Ginninderra Press, 2004) * ''First... Then... : Poems from Planet Autism'' (Ginninderra Press, 2012) * ''Drag Down to Unlock or Place an Emergency Call'' (Pitt Street Poetry, 2013) * ''Goodbye, Cruel'' (Pitt Street Poetry, 2017) * ''1962: Be Spoken To'' (collaboration with artist Caren Florance) (Limited edition artist's book, 2015–2017) * ''Members Only'' (collaboration with artist Caren Florance) (Recent Work Press, 2017) * ''Listen, bitch'' (collaboration with artist Caren Florance) (Recent Work Press, 2019)<ref>{{cite web |title=Listen, bitch |url=https://recentworkpress.com/product/listen-bitch/ |website=Recent Work Press |accessdate=30 October 2019}}</ref> * ''Perfectly Bruised'' (bilingual English and Mandarin selected poems, translated by Bei Bei Chen and Karen Kun) (Flying Islands Press, 2019) * ''Man-handled'' (Recent Work Press, 2020)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://melindasmith.wordpress.com Website] * {{AustLit}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Melinda}} Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Australian poets Category:Writers from Canberra Category:Australian women poets