Allan Lake

Allan Lake was born in 1949 and lived in the small Canadian town of Asquith in the prairie province of Saskatchewan. After high school he first felt called to hippiedom in British Columbia and then joined a religion which prompted a move to Cape Breton Island on Canada's east coast. After deciding to become an English teacher, Lake moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza where he taught for a year and met his future wife. Together they returned to Saskatchewan where Lake completed his degrees, taught English for many years and had three daughters.

In 1985 the family migrated to Launceston on the island of Tasmania where Lake found employment as an English teacher.

It was during his 13 years on Tasmania that Lake published his first collection of poems called Tasmanian Tiger Breaks Silence (1988) which was followed by a small volume of 4 poems called Grandparents : Portraits of Strain (1994). * Both currently out of print.

He also edited 11 volumes of Traks, the poetry annual by Tasmanian high school students.

Due to some family health issues, at the end of 1998 the family moved across Australia to Perth for a change of climate. Lake continued to teach English and write poems but published very little during this 10 year period. It was during this time that his marriage ended as did his faith in religion. His then adult daughters and 2 granddaughters had all moved to the other side of Australia so in 2008 Lake did the same, settling in Melbourne, Victoria.

There he continues to teach, has a new Sicilian partner, and has published another collection of poems called Sand in the Sole (Xlibris 2014).