Ken Canning
{{Short description|Australian poet}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Ken Canning
| image = Ken Canning.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name = Burraga Gutya
| native_name_lang = Murri
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Frankston, Victoria, Australia
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation = Poet; Indigenous activist
| language =
| nationality = Australian
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater = University of Technology Sydney
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| years_active =
| module =
| website =
| portaldisp =
}}
Ken Canning is a Murri activist, writer and poet, whose people are from the Kunja Clan of the Bidjara Nation in south west Queensland, Australia. Canning now lives and teaches in Sydney. Ken works with the Rainbow Lodge program where he supports Aboriginal men leaving custody.
Biography
In his youth he spent time in boys homes and later sent to Boggo Road Gaol. While in prison Canning learned to read and write,{{cite web|last1=Niaz|first1=Nadia|title=Review Short: Ken Canning/Burraga Gutya's Yimbama|url=http://cordite.org.au/reviews/niaz-gutya/|website=Cordite|date=19 July 2015 |accessdate=15 March 2016}} before he turned to poetry as a form of release.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
His activism for equal rights for Indigenous Australians led him to education in the 1980s. He was one of the founding members of Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology Sydney, working with Indigenous students at a tertiary level.{{cite news|title=Ken Canning|url=http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/stories/s2256072.htm|accessdate=15 March 2016|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|work=ABC Indigenous|date=26 May 2008}}
Canning's poetry has been translated into several languages and he's now finished writing his first major play, 49 Days a Week, which is one of 6 plays picked nationally for the Yellamundie Festival in Sydney 2017. He has also recently written a half hour film script titled Cocky on a Biscuit Tin, which will eventually be written as a novel. His poetry has been noted for its combination of Indigenous language and English, as well as its blunt, understated and visceral language. His poetry is published under his Aboriginal language name, Burraga Gutya.
Canning was the lead candidate for the New South Wales Socialist Alliance ticket for the Australian Senate in the 2016 federal election, under the title "For A People's Movement".{{cite news|title=Ken Canning to head Socialist Alliance NSW Senate ticket|url=https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/61281|accessdate=15 March 2016|work=Green Left Weekly|date=12 March 2016}} After helping to organise the 2016 Invasion Day protest in Sydney, Canning said the 5000-strong march was being hailed as "the biggest march by Aboriginal peoples since 1988".{{cite web|last1=Canning|first1=Ken|title=Ken Canning: A new wave of young warriors are making noise not heard in the mainstream since the 80's|url=http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2016/02/01/ken-canning-new-wave-young-warriors-are-making-noise-not-heard-mainstream-80s|website=NITV|publisher=SBS|accessdate=15 March 2016}}
Published works
- {{cite book |author1=Canning, Ken |title=Ngali Ngalga (let's talk): poetry |publication-date=1990 |publisher=Breakout Press |isbn=978-0-646-00673-4 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Canning, Ken |author2=Queensland Corrective Services Commission |author3=Australian Catholic University (Qld.) |author4=Weemala Higher Education Centre |title=Art from the inside |publication-date=1996 |publisher=s.n |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7696501 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Burraga Gutya, C |title=Advance Australia What? |publication-date=2009 |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/192625467 }}
- {{cite book |author1=Canning, Ken |author2=Quejada-Canning, Cheryl Bucaneg, (artist.) |title=Yimbama |publication-date=2015 |publisher=Vagabond Press |location=Newtown, New South Wales |isbn=978-1-922181-43-5 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canning, Ken}}
Category:Australian environmentalists
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Australian indigenous rights activists
Category:Indigenous Australian writers
Category:People from South West Queensland
Category:Writers from Queensland
Category:University of Technology Sydney alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Technology Sydney