Richard James Allen (born 1960) is a contemporary Australian poet, dancer, actor and filmmaker. The former artistic director of the Poets Union Inc, and founding director of the Australian Poetry Festival, Allen was co-artistic director with Karen Pearlman of That Was Fast (New York City) and Tasdance (Launceston), and now at The Physical TV Company (Sydney).
Allen has published thirteen books of poetry, fiction or performance texts, most recently Text Messages from the Universe (2023), More Lies (2021), The short story of you and I (2019), Fixing the Broken Nightingale (2014), The Kamikaze Mind (2006), and Performing the Unnameable: An Anthology of Australian Performance Texts (1999), co-edited with Karen Pearlman. He received the 2005 University of Technology, Sydney, Chancellor's Award for Best Doctoral Thesis. A multi-award-winning film adaptation of his Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry-nominated book, Thursday's Fictions (1999), was first broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2007. This surreal dance fantasy also has a Second Life presence, Thursday's Fictions in Second Life.
He is the grandson of World War II Major General Arthur Samuel "Tubby" Allen, son of novelist and short story writer Robert Allen, and the brother of art critic Christopher Allen.
Books
Further reading
- "The Exhilaration and Anxiety of Free Fall" Dr Mark Seton reviews The Kamikaze Mind by Richard James Allen
External links
Creative Websites:
Interviews:
- TASA Media Voices Series, interview on creativity across various artforms (7 October, 2021)
- Tony Messenger, Verity La, interview on poetry, spirituality and the arts (24 February, 2020)
- Paul Brookes, The Wombwell Rainbow, interview on writing history and practice (7 August, 2019)
- Magdalena Ball, Compulsive Reader, interview on poetry and creativity (24 June, 2019)
- Samuel Elliott, Backstory Journal, interview on poetic form (16 June, 2019)
- Eddy Diamond, FBi Radio, interview on poetry (2 February, 2019)
- Interactive Media Innovation (imi) industry leader interview (April, 2012)
- Andrew Mikkelsen interview on yoga, creativity, philosophy and personal history (21 February, 2012)
- Josef Brown interview on dance film and creativity (30 May, 2011)
- Orion Mitchell interview on dance film and the internet, as part of Dancing Through YouTube (April 26, 2011)
- SPIKE Magazine interview on dance for film and virtual worlds (6 April 2011)
- Transmedia Victoria â Meet transmedia artist: Richard James Allen (20 December, 2010)
- RealTime interview on mixed reality dance film (Issue #99, OctoberâÂÂNovember 2010)
- RealTime interview on dance film (Issue #80, AugustâÂÂSeptember 2007)
- RealTime interview on dance and poetry (Issue #10, DecemberâÂÂJanuary 1995)
Archives:
- Richard James Allen at Red Room Poetry
- Richard James Allen at Australia Dancing, National Library of Australia
- Richard James Allen at the Manuscripts Collection, the State Library of New South Wales
- The Physical TV Company Website selected for preservation by Pandora, Australia's Web Archive, at the National Library of Australia
References