Tracy Ryan è una poetessa e romanziera dell'Australia Occidentale, riconosciuta in particolare negli anni '90 come poetessa femminista pioniera. Le sue prime opere hanno esplorato la natura complessa dei tempi e la fine della seconda ondata femminista attraverso l'esperienza personale. Ryan trae spesso ispirazione dal mondo che la circonda e dalla sua vita personale, con un vivo interesse per il modo in cui il linguaggio può essere interrotto e riconfigurato a fini femministi. La sua poesia, paragonata a quella di Sylvia Plath, presenta fondamenti mitici affermando al contempo il suo potere distintivo.
The Fremantle Press Anthology of Western Australian Poetry is a comprehensive survey of the state's poets from the 19th century to today. Featuring work from 128 poets, and accompanied by biographical notes and an introductory essay by editors John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan, this watershed anthology brings together the poems that have contributed to and defined the way that Western Australians see themselves.
Water is contained in these poems in many different ways- from the water filling a second-hand cooler in an old farmhouse to ocean riptides and impassive dams; from swimming lessons to paddocks layered with water after rain. From scheme water, pipelines and a countryside in the grip of drought - the water in this collection is a many-sided metaphor. Tracy Ryan's latest collection of poems is full of intimate intensity and clear vision, each poem wrought with consummate skill by 'one of Australia's most gifted poets' (Marion May Campbell).