Emily Ballou

Emily Ballou is an Australian-American poet, novelist and screenwriter. Her poetry collection The Darwin Poems, a verse portrait of Charles Darwin, was published by University of Western Australia Press in 2009. It was written as part of an Australia Council for the Arts residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan, Ireland.

Background Emily Ballou was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She studied Film and English at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, graduating with a Bachelor in Fine Arts with Honours and completed a Master of Letters in Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. She subsequently immigrated to Australia.

She is also the author of the novels Father Lands (Picador, 2002) and Aphelion (Picador, 2007), as well as the picture book One Blue Sock (Random House, 2007) (with illustrations by Stephen Michael King).

2009 – Anne Elder Award: Highly Commended for The Darwin Poems 2009 – Wesley Michel Wright Prize for The Darwin Poems 2010 – Western Australian Premier's Book Awards: Shortlisted for The Darwin Poems