Jena Woodhouse

Born Jennifer May Spurway, in Rockhampton, Australia, in 1949,^[1] Woodhouse is a graduate of the University of Queensland obtaining a B.A. Hons degree in Russian language and literature. Later, Woodhouse completed an M.A. in creative writing at Queensland University of Technology. AustLit lists 562 published works by Woodhouse^[2] that include the domestic fiction Farming Ghosts (2009),^[3] and the short story collection Dreams of Flight (2014).^[4]

Woodhouse's published poetry collections include Eros in Landscape (1989),^[5] Passenger on a Ferry (1994)^[6] and Green Dance: Tamborine Mountain Poems (2018).^[7]

Woodhouse's poetry has been recognised both in Australia and internationally. Among Woodhouse's awards is a High Commendation for "The Termitary" in the 2007 Fellowship of Australian Writers Tom Collins Poetry Prize (Western Australia)^[8] and second place for "Galahs near Booranga" in the 2017 Henry Kendall Poetry Award (Victoria).^[9] Woodhouse has been shortlisted three times for the Montreal International Poetry Prize for A Bird and the River (2013),^[10] Evening Stroll by the Canal (2015),^[11] and more recently for Lament for a Daughter (2020).^[12]

Woodhouse's poems have also been set to music. Woodhouse's poem sequence "The River" formed the basis of Betty Beath’s song cycle River Songs (1991) for soprano^[13] and her poems "Turquoise Lullaby", "Every Shadow" and "When Evie Dances" (2018) forms the text for Beath's song cycle Evie Dances for mezzo-soprano.^[14] Woodhouse's poem "The She Wolf" is the text of one of five songs in Beath's song cycle Points in a Journey (1987) for soprano.^[15]

• Jena Woodhouse (1993), Metis, The Octopus and the Olive Tree, Nundah: Jam Roll Press.
• Christina Houen and Jena Woodhouse (eds) (2006), Hidden Desires: Australian Women Writing, Ginninderra Press.
• Jena Woodhouse (2009), Farming Ghosts, Port Adelaide: Ginninderra Press.