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Jeri Kroll Jeri Kroll i(A10235 works by) (a.k.a. Jeri Lou Kroll)
Born: Established: 1946 New York (City), New York (State),
c
United States of America (USA),
c
Americas,
;
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1978
Heritage: American
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BiographyHistory

Jeri Kroll has Jewish/Russian heritage. Her mother, who had been a singer and dancer before her marriage, used to write poems for family occasions. Kroll began writing at an early age and was encouraged in this by her older sister Judith, who herself became a writer.

Kroll was awarded a BA(cum laude) degree from Smith College, Mass. (1967), an MA from the University of Warwick, UK (1968) and a PhD from Columbia University, New York (1974). She taught literature and writing at a number of tertiary institutions in the United States and the UK. She was one of the founding collective editors of Sojourner, a New York City magazine of women's writing.

Kroll was a freelance writer and community arts worker 1981-1993. She has been a literary producer for radio 5UV, particularly Writers' Radio and Authors' Proof, as well as conducting interviews with writers. She has given numerous talks and workshops on writing, and has held a number of positions as writer-in-residence and writer-in-the-community. In Australia she has taught at the Croydon Park and Salisbury Colleges of Advanced Education, the University of Adelaide, and at Flinders University, where she has been a Professor of English and Programme Co-ordinator of Creative Writing, as well as the Dean of Graduate Research.

Her early overseas honours and awards include the Ethel Olin Corbin Poetry Prize 1966, Elizabeth Babcock Poetry Prize 1967, and Phi Beta Kappa 1967 from Smith College. In Australia, as well as a number of awards and commendations for individual works, she has been awarded three Literature Board Grants, several grants from the SA Department for the Arts and a Literature Board Fellowship 1991-2.

Much of Jeri's writing is about interactions between people, including the relationships between parent and child. Initially writing poetry and short stories for adults, she has also since 1994 published a number of books for children and young adults. Her school readers, What Goes With Toes and Beaches were published in both English and Spanish by Houghton Mifflin (Boston) in their Invitations to Literacy series. Her Mother Workshops (2004) is a mixed genre work of poetry and prose. She has published articles on Samuel Beckett, on contemporary poetry, the pedagogy of creative writing and on children's literature.

She was awarded a Varuna Writers' Fellowship in 2000, and in 2005, a one month residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Writers' Centre in Ireland.

Most Referenced Works

Affiliation Notes

  • Born elsewhere; moved to SA

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Vanishing Point Glebe : Puncher and Wattmann , 2015 8457524 2015 selected work poetry

'Vanishing Point is a crossover verse novel that poses the question of how individuals can learn to be comfortable in their own bodies. Nineteen-year-old Diana Warren suffers from anorexia and bulimia. She faces a challenging situation at home with dysfunctional parents and a Down-syndrome brother, which causes her to seek refuge in female role models in the mythic past. An Irish racehorse trainer who reignites her childhood love of horses causes her to question everything. Will she choose life or death? And what happens when that choice is taken out of her hands?' (Publication summary)

2015 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards Griffith University Young Adult Book Award
Normanville, S.A : Easter, 1986 i "Morning swooped down like a seagull ravenous for picnics.", 1989 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Phoenix Review , Spring no. 4 1989; (p. 91-92) Monster Love 1990; (p. 22-23)
1988 Highly Commended FAW (SA) Ian Mudie Memorial Award
Exit i "She slit a hole in time, thin as a whisker", 1989 single work poetry
— Appears in: Fine Line , December no. 6 1989; (p. 43) Monster Love 1990; (p. 33)
1988 Highly Commended ABC / ABA Bicentennial Literary Award

Known archival holdings

University of New South Wales Australian Defence Force Academy Australian Defence Force Academy Library (ACT)
Last amended 11 Jul 2011 11:12:49
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