Duc’s Story

Meet Dr. Duc Dau, Coordinator – Research at Wungening. With a background in research, project management, communication, policy development, and advocacy, she has worked across the NGO, university, and government sectors.

But in her spare time? Duc is an emerging poet and has just recently won the Jan Dean Members Prize of the prestigious Newcastle Poetry Prize.

So what inspired her latest winning piece, Broken Vietnamese?

“My poem was adapted from a personal essay that was never published. I knew that my story of navigating my Vietnamese identity, growing up in Newcastle in the 80s, and having a strong sense of my bisexual identity despite a strict Catholic-Vietnamese background could make for a unique series of sonnets.

“The poem could not have been written in my 20s, 30s, and maybe even my early 40s. It’s a personal poem that also contains a lot of knowledge and learning I have built up over the years, along with 13 years of therapy.

“I wrote it as if it were the first and last poem I would write.”

Duc mentions that since 2025 she’s recently changed from writing about poetry in her research to switching to writing the poetry herself, a change that has been a steep, yet rewarding learning curve.

“Broken Vietnamese is probably my tenth poem (give or take a couple), but I had absorbed poetry through almost three decades of reading, researching, and writing about poetry, as both a scholar and avid lover of the form. My honours and PhD theses, and most of my postdoc project – which are all published as books or articles – were on poets.

“Ever since I decided that poetry would become my vocation in the second half of 2025, I have been buying a ton of poetry books, mostly by Australian poets, as I was more familiar with contemporary American poets. I spend a lot of my spare time reading, thinking about, and writing or editing poems, just as I did with my academic writing when I was no longer working as a paid academic but as an honorary research fellow at UWA.”

Despite her success, Duc says feedback and resilience have been the two key aspects in shaping her writing as a poet.

“A few months ago, I got in touch with my poet friends and told them of my intentions to move from academic writing to poetry. I lucked out when I discovered that my friend and academic collaborator, Hannah McCann, also wrote poetry after we were both shortlisted for the Poetry d’Amour Poetry Prize, which she ended up winning! She is an astute reader – in fact, once I’d sent sections to friends for comment and thought Broken Vietnamese was finally in good shape, I sent it to her and she tore it a new one with extensive in-line feedback.

“Her feedback was brutal yet necessary. Without Hannah I would not have been able to accelerate my learning the way I have – she’s helped shave a couple of years off my progress.”

The awards ceremony was held last week, and Duc was present to both read her poem and accept the award in person.

“I was only asked to read at the ceremony a few days in advance, and I had already indicated that I would be attending. I wanted to fly over because it would give me an opportunity to revisit my old hometown, attend the Newcastle Writers Festival, and meet the judges and other poets.

“Reading one’s work to a group of poets and poetry lovers is a wonderful feeling – it can get you noticed, especially if you allow your personality and sense of humour to shine. People love to laugh, even if the content is sad.

“I have been doing Toastmasters for years, which has built up my confidence with public speaking. Even so, it still took me a minute or two to settle my nerves after the initial shock of winning a national prize.”

Wanting to read Duc’s poem? Check out the Newcastle Poetry Prize Anthology: https://hunter-writers-centre.square.site/product/npp-2025/LQ66CM5OJYN63RBSOOCC7WTV?

Wanting to get into poetry? Here are some of Duc’s recommendations on some great Aboriginal poets:

Elfie Shiosaki (Noongar and Yawuru)

Charmaine Papertalk Green (Yamatji)

Ellen van Neerven

Evelyn Araluen

Ali Cobby Eckermann

Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Tony Birch

A fantastic publisher of Aboriginal authors is Magabala Books, based in Broome.

 

Photo Credits: Eunice Andrada