Michael Aiken

Michael Aiken has been chosen by ABR Laureate David Malouf as the Laureate's Fellow. He was born in western Sydney and raised on the New South Wales central coast. Emerging from a thirteen-year career in the security industry, he has developed a poetics largely rooted in direct observation and treatment of the thing itself. His book A Vicious Example (2014) was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize. Michael Aiken's poetry and prose has appeared in various journals in Australia and overseas. He lives and works in Sydney.

ABR Laureate's Fellowship: extract from 'Satan Repentant' by Michael Aiken

August 2016, no. 383 • 25 July 2016

Set in the modern day, Satan Repentant is a book-length poem about revenge, resentment, and remorse, telling a new myth of what would happen if Satan tried to apologise and atone for all his crimes. Through that story, it explores ideas of power, of authority to judge right and wrong, and the dignity and shame that can be attached to admitting fault or insisting on self-righteous innocence. Here i ... (read more)