Gig Ryan

• Birth Name — Elizabeth Anne Martina Ryan • Born — 5 November 1956 • Birthplace — Leicester, England • Education — La Trobe University (B.A.) University of Sydney University of Melbourne Monash University (Ph.D.) • Occupation — Poet Critic • Notable Works — Selected Poems (2012) • Relatives — Peter John Ryan (father)

Ryan was born in Leicester, England in 1956. This was when her father, Australian surgeon Peter John Ryan, had taken the family to England to gain his surgical qualifications (FRCS). After they returned in 1957, Ryan grew up in Melbourne, and was educated in the Catholic school system. In 1993, Ryan earned a B.A. in Latin and Ancient Greek, and in 2020, she earned her doctorate in Creative writing at Monash University.

At seventeen, Ryan won the Victorian 1974 Maryborough Prize, and published her first poems. Ryan lived in Sydney 1978–1990. Before moving to Sydney, she had co-founded Melbourne women writers' magazine Luna in 1974, which she co-edited and reviewed for until '78. Ryan later became poetry editor of The Age newspaper (1998–2016). selecting a weekly poem, and regularly reviewing contemporary poetry. She has also recorded her songs with the bands 'Disband' (1981-1982: Kathy Bluff, violin, backing vocals; Amanda Jones, saxophone; Elizabeth Drake, piano, keyboards; 1983-1988, Amanda Jones, saxophone, backing vocals; Jo/Joanna Packer, drums, percussion; 1986-1988 joined by Thomas Tallis/ Ashelford, bass, backing vocals; Simon Alcorn, violin) and 'Driving Past'(David Nichols, drums; Mia Schoen, guitar and backing vocals; Andrew Withycombe, bass).

• |Title — |Year — |First published — |Reprinted/collected in • "If I Had a Gun" — 1980 — The Division of Anger: Poems, Transit Poetry, 1980, pp. 51-52