Jayne Fenton Keane

Jayne Fenton Keane is a contemporary Australian poet and poetry performer. She is known for making innovative use of multimedia including Adobe Flash, for publishing her poetry on the web, and for poetry performance.

Early life and education Keane was born in the United Kingdom. At age one, she emigrated to Australia with her parents, Leslie and Linda Fenton. and a PhD, with "Three-dimensional poetic natures". She completed a second PhD, "The Language of Ecotourism", at the University of Southern Queensland.

Career Keane has published several books of poetry and a CD recording. She is active as a performance poet and in multimedia poetry. The Transparent Lung was adapted for radio in collaboration with Mike Ladd. Keane has received a Varuna Writers' Centre Fellowship and a grant from Queensland Arts, and has performed at festivals in Australia, Canada and the United States. She is the founding and current director of National Poetry Week.

Reception of work

Liz Hall-Downs described The Transparent Lung as "intensely 'modern'", and compares Keane's progression as a poet from her previous work Ophelia's Codpiece to The Transparent Lung to Sylvia Plath's progression, noting the clarity of words and emotional directness.

CD The Stalking Tongue (1999)