Kenneth Slessor
Poet
Australian modernist poet known for Cuckooz Contrey, Earth Visitors, One Hundred Poems, and other poetry collections. Also a journalist, he worked as a World War II correspondent for the Sydney Sun.
He published his first poem at age sixteen, while he was a student at Sydney Church of England Grammar School. He published his first poetry collection, Thief of the Moon, in 1924.
His best-known poems -- "Five Bells" and "Beach Burial" -- were written during the World War II years.
He was born in New South Wales, Australia, and he spent a portion of his childhood in England. He married Noela Glasson in August of 1922.
He was a literary contemporary of New Zealand-born poet Allen Curnow.