Judith Rodriguez

Born in Perth in 1936 and spending her first years there, Judith Rodriguez (née Green) moved to Brisbane and attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School and the University of Queensland, studying Arts. Following this, she travelled to England and completed a Master of Arts at Cambridge University in 1965. She tutored at Kingston University in Jamaica, where she met her first husband, Fabio Rodriguez. In 1982 she married Australian writer Thomas Shapcott.

Rodriguez's first collection of poems was published as part of Four Poets in 1962, the others being fellow Brisbane poets David Malouf, Rodney Hall and Don Maynard. She published many books of poetry, and produced woodcuts for several. From 1979 - 1982, she was poetry editor of Meanjin, and from 1988 - 1997 held a similar role with Penguin Australia. She also edited an anthology and collaborated on an opera and a play. She taught at La Trobe and Deakin universities, received the Christopher Brennan Award, among many other literary awards, and in 1994 was presented with the Order of Australia. She died in 2018.

Her work is often about the experiences of women, and uses direct, straightforward language and her bold imagery.

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UMA  Unit 288  2005.0004.02036

two poems by rodriguez.   

Meanjin  (l) Volume XXXII, Number  4, 1973 (r)  Volume XXII, Number 2, 1963