Philip Mead was born in Brisbane in 1953. From 1987 to 1994 he was Lockie Fellow in Creative Writing and Australian Literature in the English Department, University of Melbourne, and from 1995 to 2009, Senior Lecturer, then Associate Professor in English, at the University of Tasmania. In 2009 he became Winthrop Professor and inaugural Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Western Australia, and Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science. In 2009-2010 Philip was Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack Visiting Chair of Interdisciplinary Australian Studies, at the Free University, Berlin. In 2015-16 he was Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University. From 1987 to 1994 Philip Mead was Poetry Editor of Meanjin Quarterly magazine. He edited, with John Tranter, The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Australian Poetry (1994). His poetry collections include This River is in the South (University of Queensland Press, 1984). His edited collection of essays, Kenneth Slessor: Critical Readings appeared was published by University of Queensland Press in 1997. He has also edited selections of poetry by Frank Wilmot, Selected Poetry and Prose (Melbourne University Press, 1997) and David Campbell, Hardening of the Light (Ginnenderra, 2007). He has been co-editor of JASAL (Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature) and is on the editorial advisory boards of Australian Literary Studies and the Cultural Studies Review.
