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Mr. Christopher (Kit) Kelen, an associate professor of the Department of English at the University of Macau (UM) and a renowned poet and painter, lately received the Newcastle Poetry Prize. Newcastle Poetry Prize is the richest and most prestigious stand-alone poetry competition in Australia.

Prof. Kelen has taught Literature and Creative Writing at UM for ten years. On 18 December 2010, he and several students of the Department of English will co-launched numerous books covering a range of genres, including contemporary and classical poetry, poetry translation, short fiction and life writing. He has published ten volumes of poetry, including the most recent After Meng Jiao: Responses to the Tang Poet and God Preserve Me from Those Who Want What’s Best for Me.

He is the editor of the on-line journal Poetry Macao and poetry editor for the monthly lifestyle/current affairs journal Macao Closer. In 2009 he became a Artist-in-Residence at Bundanon. Apart from poetry, he also excels at painting. Earlier this year he held his fourth solo exhibition in which more than 20 works were exhibited.

The Newcastle Poetry Prize is particularly valued by the Australian poetry community. The most important feature of the Newcastle Poetry Prize is that it is judged blind and therefore provides a level playing field where existing reputations are confirmed and emerging talent gets a chance to break through. Each year, hundreds of hopeful writers from around the country send their poems in to be assessed by a panel of eminent judges who then produce an anthology of the selected poems annually, offering poets a rare avenue for publication in an increasingly bleak publishing landscape.