Vicki Viidikas
{{Short description|Australian poet and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
Vicki Viidikas (25 September 1948 – 27 November 1998) was a twentieth-century Australian poet and prose writer.
Her first poem, At East Balmain, was published when she was 19 years old. Her poetry, fiction and drawings were published in literary magazines, as well as several collections of poetry.{{Cite web|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-642484|title=Viidikas, Vicki (1948-1998) - People and organisations|website=Trove|language=en|access-date=2019-08-31}} She wrote prolifically up until her untimely death at 50 years old, which was much mourned in Australia's poetry community.
Viidikas was an iconic member of the collection of Sydney poets now known as the “generation of ‘68”.{{Cite web|url=http://poetsunioninc.blogspot.com/2010/05/poets-union-e-news-for-poets-from-may.html|title=Poets Union Inc.: Poets Union e-news for poets from May 19|last=Bray|first=Cathy|date=2010-05-18|website=Poets Union Inc.|access-date=2019-08-31}} The ‘counter culture’ and her travels in Asia, especially India, are recurrent subjects in her poetry.
{{Infobox poet|name=Vicki Viidikas|birth_date=25 September 1948|birth_place=Sydney, Australia|death_date=27 November 1998|death_place=Sydney Australia|occupation=Poet|nationality=Australian}}
Early life
Viidikas was born and grew up in Sydney, Australia. Her mother, Betty Kunig, was Anglo-Australian, her father Estonian.{{Cite book|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/36671586|title=Papers of Vicki Viidikas|last=Viidikas|first=Vicki|date=1976|language=English}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A2339|title=Vicki Viidikas: (author/organisation) {{!}} AustLit: Discover Australian Stories|website=www.austlit.edu.au|access-date=2018-12-24}} She had a sister, Ingrid Lisners, who has been involved with publishing the collection New and Rediscovered in tribute to her sister.{{Cite web|url=http://www.literaryfestivals.co.uk/swfausauthors.html|title=Australian participants, Sydney Writers' Festival, 2010|website=www.literaryfestivals.co.uk|access-date=2019-08-31}} Viidikas attended schools in Queensland and Sydney, until the age of 15 when she left education and her home.{{Cite web|url=https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/library/finding-aids/guide-papers-vicki-viidikas|title=Guide to the Papers of Vicki Viidikas {{!}} Academy Library {{!}} UNSW Canberra|website=www.unsw.adfa.edu.au|access-date=2019-08-31}}
After leaving home, she held various jobs, including veterinary assistant, typist, bartender, apple packer, bookshop assistant, and research assistant, before starting to write at 16 without any formal training.{{Cite web|url=http://www.foame.org/Issue8/reviews1.html|title=foam:e 8 - ...to be worded again, to be answered ...|website=www.foame.org|access-date=2019-08-31}}
Career
Alternative literary magazines began publishing Viidikas' poetry and fiction in the late 1960s and early 1970s.{{Cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A2339|title=Vicki Viidikas: (author/organisation) {{!}} AustLit: Discover Australian Stories|website=www.austlit.edu.au|access-date=2019-08-31}} Her writing discussed the drug and sexual revolution taking place.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/vivid-sketches-from-an-age-of-liberation-20100514-v3m9.html|title=Vivid sketches from an age of liberation|last=Wilding|first=Michael|date=2010-05-14|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2019-08-31}} She joined the Balmain New South Wales poetry scene in the late 1960s, she encountered, among others, Ken Bolton, John Forbes, Martin Johnston and John Tranter. Michael Wilding's recollections of her can be found in his 'Wild and Woolley: a publishing memoir' (Giramondo, 2011) and 'Growing Wild' (Arcadia, 2016).
Viidikas' work was influenced by her travels, including trips to Europe and the Middle East. She lived in India for over a decade in the 1970s and 1980s, with her experiences informing the collection India Ink published in 1984.
Works
Poetry
- Condition Red. (University of Queensland, 1973) {{ISBN|0-7022-0884-1}}
- Knabel. (Sydney: Wild & Woolley, 1978) {{ISBN|0-909331-56-1}}
- India Ink: A collection of prose poems written in India. (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1984) {{ISBN|0-86806-093-3}}
Short stories
- Wrappings. (Sydney : Wild & Woolley, 1974) {{ISBN|0-909331-00-6}}
Collected editions
- New and Rediscovered. (Transit Lounge, 2010) {{ISBN|9780980571769}}
Viidikas' novel ''Kali and the Dung Beetle has not been published.{{Cite web|url=http://cordite.org.au/guncotton/barry-scott/|title=Vicki Viidikas Rediscovered: Ali Alizadeh’s Q&A with Barry Scott|date=2010-03-31|website=Cordite Poetry Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-31}}
Influence
In 1975, Stephen Wallace directed a short film, Break Up, from the short story ‘Getting it all Together’ published in Wrappings.{{Cite web|url=http://cordite.org.au/author/vickiviidikas/|title=Vicki Viidikas|website=Cordite Poetry Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-31}}
Awards
- Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, 1980
- Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Fellowship, 1978
- Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Fellowship, 1975
- Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, Young Writers' Grant, 197
Personal life
During the late 1960s, Viidikas was briefly married to artist Robert (Bob) Finlayson. Whilst living in King's Cross and then Balmain, they both became involved with the Poetry Society of Australia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.robertfinlayson.com/biography.html|title=Robert Finlayson Australian artist biography|website=www.robertfinlayson.com|access-date=2019-08-31}}
References
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External links
- [http://cordite.org.au/essays/viidikas-leves/ Foreword Viidikas: Reintroduction of the ’68 Poet] by Kerry Leves for Cordite Poetry Review (via Transit Lounge Publishing)
- [http://www.thylazine.org/archives/thyla5/thyla5f.html One day in the life of Vicki Viidikas] by Stephen Oliver
- [http://cordite.org.au/essays/seven-vicki-viidikas-poems/ Fuori le mura: Seven Vicki Viidikas Poems] by Gig Ryan
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090912055541/http://www.austlit.com/a/viid/index.html Vicki Viidikas: Contents page] at Australian Literature Resources (archived 2009)
- [https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/188577062?q&c=music Vicki's Voice - Remembering Vicki Viidikas] by Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Category:Australian people of Estonian descent
Category:Australian women poets