Kenneth Mackenzie (author) explained
Kenneth Ivo Brownley Langwell Mackenzie (25 September 1913 – 19 January 1955) was an Australian poet and novelist. His first and best-known novel, The Young Desire It (1937), was published under the pen name Seaforth Mackenzie.[1]
Life
Mackenzie was born in South Perth.[2] He grew up in Pinjarra, Western Australia, and attended Guildford Grammar School. His experiences at Guildford in part inspired his novel of 1937 The Young Desire It.[3] His novel Dead Men Rising was about the Cowra breakout of which he had first hand experience, having been stationed there at the time of the event.
He married Kate Bartlett (nee Loveday), in 1935. Their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1936, and son Hugh was born in 1938.[4]
His life in Sydney included involvement with the world of Norman Lindsay and Hugh McCrae and archival records show significant influence from them.[5]
He received a number of literary grants and awards,[6] and left a number of works which have been since edited and published.[7]
In his later years he was separated from his wife who had moved into Sydney, while he lived in limited conditions in Kurrajong.[8] [9]
Mackenzie drowned on 17 January 1955 in Tallong Creek near Goulburn, New South Wales, aged 41. He had been jailed for public drunkenness a few hours before his death; whether it was accidental or a suicide is uncertain.[10]
Most of his works were originally published during his lifetime, however, some material has been reprinted by Text Publishing.[11]
Writing
Novels
As Seaforth Mackenzie
Radio Play
Poetry
- Our Earth, Sydney, Angus and Robertson (1937)
- The Moonlit Doorway, Sydney, Angus and Robertson (1944)
- Selected Poems (1961)
- The poems of Kenneth MacKenzie (1972)
As editor
- Australian poetry, 1951-2 (selected by Kenneth Mackenzie), Sydney : Angus & Robertson (1952)
Posthumous collection
- Rossiter, Richard (2000) The Model
Biographical material
- Davis, D (1965) Bibliography
- Davis, D (1967) Thesis about MacKenzie
- Jones, Evan (1969) Kenneth Mackenzie: Australian Writers and their Work Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
- Kinross-Smith, Graeme (1980) Australian Writers Melbourne: Thomas Nelson.
External links
Notes and References
- Brady, Veronica, 'Mackenzie, Kenneth Ivo Brownley Langwell (Seaforth) (1913–1955)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 28 July 2011. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 15, (MUP), 2000
- News: Gold Medal for Novelist. . . Perth . 27 May 1939 . 28 July 2011 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
- News: personalities of the Week... . . Perth . 4 December 1938 . 28 July 2011 . 24 Section: SPORTING SECTION . National Library of Australia.
- p xi of
- Kenneth Mackenzie manuscript collection Autograph manuscript of his poems 'The plover's country' and 'Duet for lovers'. Includes personal correspondence. Autograph letters by Mackenzie to Hugh McCrae and a draft from McCrae recalling his visit to Norman Lindsay. A typewritten letter, signed, to Norman Lindsay from Phillip Lindsay discussing Mackenzie's and Australian literature in general. http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18703898
- News: LITERARY AWARDS TO THREE AUTHORS. . . 15 November 1954 . 28 July 2011 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
- Rossiter, Richard (editor) (2000) The Model: Selected Writings of Kenneth Seaforth Mackenzie Nedlands, University of Western Australia Press.
- p 4.
- p. 9 of Diana Davis 'Seaforth MacKenzie' pp.4-14 of the 'Seaforth Mackenzie Issue' of - issue 3/1966 December 1966
- News: No success like failure: The Young Desire It by Kenneth Mackenzie. Sydney Review of Books. Peter. Pierce. 27 August 2013. 2 August 2023.
- Web site: Kenneth Mackenzie.
