About

Hi, I’m Ivor, formerly an Industrial Chemist, then a plumber, and now I write poetry. I’ve had many poems published, and recently I had my book “Tullawalla” published. I started writing about 20 years ago. Then, most of my works were kept private in my desk draws. My wife suffered from severe MS and I was her primary carer. Basically my writings were about her, and our trials and tribulations over the 30 years of her illness. Sadly Carole passed 9 years ago and I’ve gradually become more public with my poems and in June 2017 I decided to start a blog site, and I think 🤔 I’m finally getting the hang of it. I hope you enjoy my humble writings, and I live in Geelong, Australia.

Author’s Statement And Bio

During my younger years I was not a literary person, and I only started writing poetry Twenty years ago. Originally educated as an Industrial Chemist, but then in my late twenties I undertook a Plumbing Apprenticeship with my father, who was sick at the time, and thus I helped him run his Plumbing Business. Life was going fine until I was in my early thirties, when my wife contracted severe MS, and my life changed completely. I became a full-time carer, and a part-time plumber.

When I was forty-nine I suffered a semi-severe Stroke, and as well as associated physical difficulties, my reading, writing and speech were affected too. That’s when I took up writing poetry, to assist myself to therapeutically regain my damaged abilities, and as a self-help relief for my ongoing anxieties and depression. Throughout all this, I was still a carer for my wife, and she subsequently became the subject of most of my writings.

I’ve poems published in, “Melpomene”, Geelong Writer’s Annual Anthologies, and many other anthologies. I am represented in online magazines such as “The Drabble”, “Poetry Festival”, “Vita Brevis”, “Slasher Monster Magazine”, and “Free Verse Revolution”. Recently I had a poem published in an interesting Poetry Chapbook, “Sailing In The Wind”, the result of an Ekphrastic Writing Workshop, at Boom Gallery, here in Geelong, and my poem is called “Waiting Time”. I am a active member of Geelong Writers Inc, and in 2019 I was appointed to the online blog/magazine Go Dog Go Cafe (America). Midyear in 2021 I was accepted as a writer/poet with “Coffee House Writers” magazine (America). 

At the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, I unfortunately had 2 more strokes, however I have been able to recover again, and proudly, during 2020 and early 2021 I wrote a book from my poetry collections. The book “Tullawalla” has now been published and available online at Barnes and Noble Books

Ivor R Steven