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Colleen Z Burke, poet and author, has had numerous books published and Cloud Hands her latest and 13th poetry book will be published in April 2024. She's also the author of Doherty's Corner, the life and work of Australian poet M.E.J. Pitt and co-editor of The Turning Wave - Poems and Songs of Irish Australia with Vincent Woods. She has published two memoirs, The Waves Turn and The Human Heart is a Bold Traveller.

Colleen grew up in a working-class family with an Irish background in Bondi, Sydney, and now lives in the inner city. She has been a shorthand typist, research assistant, community worker and Writer-in-the-Community and Workplace. Leaving school at 15, she later matriculated, completing a BA. For many years she facilitated poetry and creative writing workshops in adult and community education.

Her poetry collection the edge of it was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize, part of the NSW Literary Awards. Colleen was awarded the NSW Writers’ Fellowship in 2000 to work on her memoirs and poetry.