Robbie Coburn

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Robbie Coburn
Born (1994-06-25) 25 June 1994 (age 31)
Melbourne, Australia
Known forPoetry, young adult fiction
Notable workThe Foal in the Wire
Websitewww.robbiecoburn.com

Robbie Coburn (born 25 June 1994) is an Australian poet and author.[1]

Early life and education

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Born in Melbourne in 1994, Robbie Coburn grew up on his family's farm in Woodstock, Victoria, the son of a horse trainer.[2] As a child, his mother would read him the verse of Banjo Paterson. He attended high school at Assumption College, Kilmore. When Coburn was a teenager, writer John Marsden came to his high school as a visiting author; an experience Coburn considers one of the most formative moments of his life.

He began writing poetry at the age of 14, inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Robert Adamson, whose work Coburn discovered as a teenager, was his idol and mentor, and one of his greatest influences.[3]

Career

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Coburn’s first published poem appeared in anarchist poet Pi O's literary journal Unusual Work when he was 17 years old.[1] His poems have appeared in Poetry, Meanjin, Island, Westerly, Quadrant, and elsewhere. His poems have also been included in many anthologies.

He is the author of the poetry collections Ghost Poetry (Upswell Publishing, 2024), And I Could Not Have Hurt You (Kiddiepunk, 2023),[4] The Other Flesh (UWA Publishing, 2019), and Rain Season (Picaro Press, 2013). He has also published a number of chapbooks and zines.

Coburn’s young adult verse novel The Foal in the Wire was published by Hachette Australia in 2025.

Critical response

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Robert Adamson noted that Coburn's poems “come from tough experiences, yet are created with a muscular craft that glows with alert intelligence”.[5] Due to its openness in dealing with personal themes such as mental illness, trauma, addiction, self-harm and suicide, Coburn's work has often been categorised as confessional poetry. Sarah Holland-Batt wrote that Coburn's “raw and intimate poems are marked by a strong presence of voice: confessional, consolatory, despairing, and defiant” and that his poems “speak of impulses that are often repressed or left unsaid.”[6]

His work is also known for using imagery related to his upbringing on his family's farm, horses and rodeo. Les Wicks called Coburn “the best portraitist of Australian rural life since Brendan Ryan.[7]

Personal life

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Coburn suffers from severe depression, and has struggled with alcoholism and self-harm, topics frequently explored in his work.[8] In an interview with 3CR Melbourne, Coburn stated “I 100% believe that I would be dead without poetry.”[9]

Bibliography

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Young adult verse novels

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  • The Foal in the Wire. Hachette Australia. 2025. ISBN 9780734423603.

Poetry collections

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Poetry chapbooks

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  • Spur. Filthy Loot. 2025.
  • Blinding Narcissus. Ghost City Press. 2017.

Anthologies (contributor)

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List of poems

References

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  1. ^ a b "Austlit — Robbie Coburn". Austlit. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  2. ^ ""Overland Emerging poet series: Robbie Coburn"". Overland, 2 July 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  3. ^ ""Emerging Writers Series: Robbie Coburn"". Aniko Press. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  4. ^ [1], DC’s: Please welcome to the world … Robbie Coburn And I Could Not Have Hurt You (Kiddiepunk), 7 December 2023
  5. ^ ""The Other Flesh"". UWA Publishing, 2 July 2023.. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  6. ^ [2], Ghost Poetry, 3 October 2023
  7. ^ [3], Horrors and Hay: Les Wicks Reviews ‘Rain Season’ by Robbie Coburn, 13 December 2023
  8. ^ [4], Dirty Laundry: The Art of Confessional Writing, Meanjin, 2 July 2023
  9. ^ [5], Spoken Word - Robbie Coburn, 28 November 2024
  10. ^ [6], And I Could Not Have Hurt You, 7 December 2023
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