Poet Caitlin Maling diving into Tasmanian heritage through McAuley Fellowship

The fellowship is named after one of Australia's most distinguished poets, James McAuley, who taught English at the University from 1961 until his death in 1976.

Dr Maling said she would retrace McAuley's steps to write in the places his poems are set during her stay in Tasmania.

"He wrote quite beautiful capital 'R' romantic inspired poems around Tassie in the Huon Valley, the Fingal Valley and there's quite a few Hobart inspired ones," Dr Maling said.

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"They draw on this really lovely seasonal imagery, and I was interested in how I can engage with those places now with a different understanding of writing environments."

She said something she'd always practised as a poet was writing into the work of other poets.

"One of the ways I do that here in WA is I'll often go to the place that they wrote about and think about them and try to assess the literary, social and environmental history of their work into my own poem.

"I'll be doing that but in Tassie, and the underlying theme in all this is my extended family is Tasmanian.

"I'm a poet of place but I've never written about Tasmanian places, even though I have this thread of returning to Tassie once every year or so my entire life."

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Dr Maling's work spans across different subjects, but much of her poetry is inspired by the ecology around her.

"I've always had that deep interest in what's outside of me or outside of what we think of as human society," Dr Maling said.

"My understanding of ecological writing is poetry through pushing that sense of the 'I' in the poem, and reorienting away from that narcissistic tendency in poetry and in life."

Along with her new body of work, Dr Maling will be hosting a masterclass for UTAS students and speaking at a public event at The Hedberg.

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She said she was excited to get stuck into writing.

"I know that's nerdy, but going places and writing poems about them are my literal favourite thing to do," Dr Maling said.

"I'm excited to work with the students at UTAS; I'm always excited to see what poems different groups of students will come up with as well."

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