About Kim Downs
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About Kim Downs
Email: Kim Downs
Kim Downs is a writer, musician, technician, and sculptor. Originally from the USA, he emigrated to Australia in 1980. Kim has been a musician since the age of eight when he first wrapped his lips around a trombone. Kim has enjoyed a rich musical career playing in a variety of ensembles including Dixieland Jazz Bands, orchestras, rock bands, Ska bands, duos, trios etc., as well as gigging extensively as a solo guitarist in restaurants and pubs from Melbourne to Cairns.
Kim has pursued a separate writing career over the past twenty years which eventually led him onto Performance Poetry stages in the early '90's. His poetry features in many small press magazines both in the USA and Australia. He has been the featured reader at over 100 festivals and readings including Writers at the Rails, Stand-Up Poets, Maleny-Woodford Folk Festival, Montsalvat National Poetry Festival, The Brisbane Poetry Festival, the Brisbane Writer's Festival and the Austin International Poetry Festival.
In December 1994, Kim's short-story Mountain Oysters appeared in the Harper/Collins anthology Love Cries. Love Cries spent six weeks on the national bestseller list in 1995.
Kim and Liz moved to Queensland in 1995, and in 1997 they received an Arts Queensland Grant to tour a music and performance poetry show throughout rural Queensland. A book and audio tape, Fit of Passion, were produced from this venture. Kim has also worked as a community artist employed by the Queensland Health Department teaching writing and performance skills.
In 1999-2000 Kim was employed as a musician and Production Engineer for the Brisbane City Council-funded Blackfellas Whitefellas Wetlands project. This project involved a number of performances throughout Brisbane, as well as the production of a CD. Kim played various instruments and acted as Production Engineer on this project.
Kim's first published novel, Jippi, (Papyrus Publishing) was launched at the 2000 Brisbane Writers' Festival. Another novel, The Brazen Heavens is currently being marketed.
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Links:
Jippi
A novel by Kim Downs, Papyrus Publishing, ISBN 1-8759344-30-8, RRP $19.80 (GST incl). Art, angst, parrots, cuckoldry, and gnosticism on the streets of Brisbane.
Reviews, cover art, and excerpts from the novel.
Fit of Passion , (Fit of Passion Collective, 1997) a collaborative book and audio cassette of performance poems and songs by Kim Downs and Liz Hall-Downs. The work deals with pathos in the modern world, exploring issues of gender and identity.
Reviews, cover art, ordering details and a selection of poems from Fit of Passion.
Figurative sculpture in native timbers: a picture gallery with explanatory notes of the work of Kim Downs.
Blackfellas Whitefellas Wetlands: Kim Downs was Musician and Production Engineer on the CD, an audio production of the poetry produced about the history and environment of the Boondall Wetlands.
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Text and Photos: Liz Hall-Downs and Kim Downs
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