Richard James Allen
Photo credit: Alex Vaughan
Richard James Allen (Pronouns: He/Him), is an Australian poet, born in Kempsey, New South Wales, on the unceded lands of the Dunghutti People. He now lives on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, in Redfern, a centre of Indigenous migration and a hub of Aboriginal activism for many years.
Richard’s writing has appeared widely in journals, anthologies, and online, and he has been a popular reader at multiple performing arts venues, over many years. In 2021, his first novel, More Lies, was published by Interactive Press. In 2019, a collection of poetry, The short story of you and I, was published by UWA Publishing, and a suite of poems, Minimum Correct Dosage, was commissioned by Red Room Poetry. Previous critically acclaimed books of poetry, fiction and performance texts include Fixing the Broken Nightingale (Flying Island Books), The Kamikaze Mind (Brandl & Schlesinger) and Thursday’s Fictions (Five Islands Press), shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry.
Well-known for his multi-award-winning career as a filmmaker and choreographer with The Physical TV Company and critically acclaimed as a performer in a range of media and contexts, Richard has a track record for innovative adaptations and interactions of poetry and other media, including collaborations with artists in dance, film, theatre, music and a range of digital platforms. A First Class Honours graduate from Sydney University, he won the Chancellor’s Award for best doctoral thesis at the University of Technology, Sydney.