Renee Pettitt-Schipp

Summary

Reneé Pettitt-Schipp’s work with asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands inspired her first collection of poetry, 'The Sky Runs Right Through Us'. This collection was shortlisted for the Dorothy Hewett manuscript prize, as well as winning the WA Premier’s Literary Award for an Emerging Writer in 2019. Reneé now lives in WA’s Great Southern where she has been teaching Literature at a local university and working as a classroom teacher in local primary schools. Renee has been awarded the Fremantle-Peel Award for Teaching Excellence and Innovation by the Department of Education WA, as well as receiving a special mention in the UWA Albany Teacher of the Year Awards.

Biography

Reneé Pettitt-Schipp is an award winning writer and educator. Her first collection of poetry, ‘The Sky Runs Right Through Us’ was published by UWA Publishing in 2018. This manuscript was shortlisted for the inaugural Dorothy Hewett manuscript prize, the CHASS Australia prize, won Curtin University’s Greg Crombie ‘Work of the Year’ in the 2019 Humanities Research Awards, as well as winning the 2018 WA Premier’s Literary Award for an Emerging Writer. Reneé’s work has been recognized through many literary awards, including the ACU literature prize, the Ros Spencer Poetry Prize, the Grief Poetry Prize and the Trudy Graham Biennial Literary Award. Reneé currently live in Western Australia’s Great Southern where she is working on the final edits of non-fiction manuscript (completed as a doctorate through Curtin University), as well as writing a poetry collection supported through the State Government's Regional Arts and Cultural Investment Program, and Regional Arts WA.

Relevant qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy (Graduated 2020, Curtin University)
First Class Honours, Creative writing (Graduated 2014, Curtin University)
English as a Second Language 2 Qualification (2010, EDWA)
Graduate Diploma in Education (2003, Murdoch University)
Bachelor of Arts (1996, Murdoch University, Double Major in Literature and Philosophy)

Recent experience

June 2021 Performer and Panelist, Denmark Festival of Voice
March 2021 Words and Nerds Podcast Feature with Eva Cox and Claire G Coleman
January 2021 Panelist 'The Arts and Justice' with Kim Scott and Carol Petterson, Denmark Arts
December 2020 Judge Katherine Susannah Pritchard Poetry Competition
January 2020 'Oral History and the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy' Public Presentation, State Library of Western Australia