Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon

Summary

Natalie D-Napoleon is a writer, singer-songwriter and educator from Fremantle, Australia who is now completing a PhD in Creative Writing. She spent the last decade in the United States where she worked as a Coordinator at a City College Writing Centre. Her poetry and creative nonfiction has appeared in Meanjin, Southerly, Griffith Review, Australian Poetry Journal and Writer's Digest. Recently she released a chapbook of erasure poems, Border Crossings. In 2018, her poem “First Blood: A Sestina” won the prestigious Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize through the University of Southern Queensland. Ginninderra Press (Adelaide) will release D-Napoleon’s debut poetry collection First Blood in 2019.

Biography

Natalie D-Napoleon is a published writer of poetry and creative nonfiction, writing teacher and workshop facilitator. She has an MA in Writing from Swinburne University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing at ECU.

In 2019 she was an international guest of the Perth Poetry Festival, participating in readings, panels and leading a workshop on erasure poetry. In her role as a Coordinator of a community college Writing Centre she trained tutors in learning-centred practices for one on one tutoring of college students. D-Napoleon also lead workshops on all aspects of the writing process in her role at Santa Barbara City College.

D-Napoleon can provide guidance on higher-level writing concerns, assisting in the planning process while helping writers to see the bigger picture in regard to organising their writing and presenting it in a clear and concise way to readers. With 25 years experience as a performer she delivers readings and workshops in a way that connects with audiences on a personal level.

She has been published in Larry Smith’s "The Best Advice in Six Words", alongside Elizabeth Gilbert and Madeleine Albright. She is a two-time finalist for the Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award at the 2018 and 2017 International Literary Awards. Her poem “First Blood: A Sestina” won the prestigious 2018 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize through the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.

Her most recent release is a chapbook of erasure poems, “Border Crossings: Immigration advice for those attempting to cross borders” through Blurb books. In 2019 Ginninderra Press will publish her debut poetry collection, First Blood.

Relevant qualifications

EDUCATION
2019 (currently enrolled) - PhD in Creative Writing - Edith Cowan University (RTP Scholarship)
2016 – Master of Arts (Writing) – Swinburne University
2004 - CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults)
1995 - Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (English: Upper Second Class) (Curtin University)

PROFESSIONAL and ACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Highest achieving graduate in the MA of Writing (GPA: 3.917), Swinburne University, 2016
Winner 2018 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize, University of Southern Queensland, Australia for “First Blood: A Sestina”
Debut poetry book “First Blood” to be published by Ginninderra Press (Adelaide), 2019
3 years’ experience as a Writing Centre Laboratory Teaching Assistant at Santa Barbara City College, the top-rated Community College in the US in 2016
4 years’ experience as a Writing Tutor at the Writing Centre at Santa Barbara City College
$10,000 ArtsWA funding received to record an album with David Piltch (kd lang, John Henry, Madeleine Peyroux) in the USA, “Leaving Me Dry”
Publication of poetry, creative non-fiction and news articles in Australia and the US
3+ years teaching English as a Second Language at Milner International College of English (a 30 year established, private ESL school in Perth, Australia)
Accredited as an ESL Cambridge Oral Examiner

AWARDS
“First Blood: A Sestina” - Winner 2018 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
“Border Crossings: Immigration advice for those attempting to cross borders” - Finalist, Laurel Review Midwest Chapbook Prize, 2018
“Finding Napoleon” - Finalist “Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award,” 2018 International Literary Awards, Salem College, Centre for Women Writers, USA
“First Blood: A Sestina” - second prize, 2017 Katherine Susannah Pritchard Poetry Prize, judge: John Kinsella
“The First Drug” commended, 2017 Katherine Susannah Pritchard Poetry Prize, judge: John Kinsella
“Crossing” - Shortlist, Hippocampus Magazine “Remember in November” Creative Nonfiction Competition, November 2017
“Crossing” (creative non-fiction) - Finalist “Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award,” 2017 International Literary Awards, Salem College, Centre for Women Writers, USA
Finalist, Katharine Susannah Prichard Short Story Competition, 1992

PUBLICATIONS and PERFORMANCES
From “First Blood” (poetry collection) (To be published by Ginninderra Press, 2019)
"Write an Island" (poem) - Griffith Review (2019)
“No Box” (poem) - Southerly Literary Journal
“How to Make Sand” (poem) - Backstory, Swinburne University, 2018
“Bird Song” (poem) - Australian Poetry Anthology, 2018
“Family History” (poem) - StylusLit, Issue 3, 2018
“I Hear Things” (poem) - Australian Poetry Journal, issue 7.2
“ooO” (poem) - Dream Pop!, October 2017
“The Mouth is a Door”(poem) - StylusLit, September 2017
“Grains of Sand” and “Found” (poems) - Found Poetry Review, Volume 10, 2017
“Short Skirts” (poem) - Fem Static Zine, Issue 5, October 2015
“Come Walk With Me” (poem) - *82 Review, Issue 3.2
“Dert Rendezvous” and “Grains of Sand” (poems) - Tincture Journal, September 2015
“Stories and Sand” (poem) - Bukker Tillibul, volume 8, 2015

Recent experience

* International Guest Poet - Perth Poetry Festival (August 2019) - Various feature readings, panel and workshop presentation
* “Tuesday Poets at the Library” - with Steve Braff and Rick Benjamin, Santa Barbara Public Library, Faulkner Gallery, November 13, 2018
* “First Blood: A Sestina” - Reading at University of Southern Queensland Writing Awards Night, August 10th, 2018
* Teaching in the Galleries - Ekphrastic poetry workshop at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, February 2018
* “I Used to Believe in Magic” (creative non-fiction) - Association for Women in Communications “After Dark Storytelling Event,” Santa Barbara, USA, April 5, 2017
* “Writing Across the Multiverse: Women Who Write Across Genres” - poetry reading and panel discussion, Antioch University, Santa Barbara, USA, 18 November, 2016