Behind the poetry of Catherine Hannah. Catherine lives and writes in Geelong, Victoria, with her husband Don, rabbits and hens at her side.
the early years
Catherine Hannah was born in Blackpool, England in 1985. Being the eldest of four and growing up in a neighborhood full of children of a similar age, Catherine has always been the social sort. In addition, Catherine has always been an animal lover, which she attributes to the multitude of pets her family acquired in her childhood.
When she was very young, her parents gave her a very small electric keyboard, purchased for a few English pounds at a garage sale. This sparked a lifelong love of music and at age eight, Catherine took her very first piano lesson.
education
However, Catherine was wary of music becoming a chore. Having developed an interest in literature and theatre as a teenager, she decided to pursue this alternative avenue of the arts into higher education. A diligent student with a strong artistic persuasion, Catherine attended university in Liverpool, where she graduated with a BA(hons) in Drama and Imaginative Writing. This was her first in depth exploration of poetry, but despite enjoying the course her interest lay sleeping for many years. She continued to study the piano alongside her degree and in the months before she graduated, Catherine passed her ABRSM Grade Eight in Pianoforte. After graduation, Catherine left Liverpool to teach in the Rock Star department of a Californian summer camp; a three month post she returned to every year for eight years. During the ‘off season’, she travelled extensively around the US and eventually flew to visit her many summer camp friends who hailed from Melbourne, Australia.
the road to citizenship
During her first visit to Melbourne, Catherine felt an unexplainable and undeniable urge that the Australian state of Victoria was where she was meant to be. After having a lot of fun travelling and working round the country on working holiday visas, Catherine made the decision to move to Australia permanently in 2015 on a student visa, with a view to future citizenship. She qualified with her Diploma in Early Childhood Education in 2017 and was sponsored for permanent residency status by a childcare centre in Torquay, Victoria. Not long after this, she met a handsome man called Don and they moved in together in Geelong, Victoria and brought home a pair of baby rabbits they named Missy and Doc.
rediscovering poetry
In May 2020, Catherine was driving to work when she was involved in a serious car crash; the consequences of a stranger’s whim. Faced with life changing injuries including a bilateral C2 fracture and Traumatic Brain Injury, Catherine rediscovered her love for writing. She embraced the power of poetry for healing to make sense of road trauma and her subsequent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Post Concussion Syndrome (PCS) diagnoses.
Writing poetry also helped Catherine to accept the major life changes heralded by the crash. With PCS symptoms (which continue to this day) including sensitivity to noisy and busy environments, balance issues and extreme fatigue, she was forced to relinquish her role as an early childhood educational leader as well as her studies towards becoming an early years teacher. She was awarded a Diploma in Early Childhood Studies as she had completed the majority of the units required for accreditation- not the Bachelor’s Degree she wanted, but better than nothing.
Giving up the career she loved hurt; but as well as lows there were some dizzying highs. She was finally granted her Australian Citizenship and celebrated marriage to Don in an intimate garden ceremony. Poetry helped her process it all.
current work- poetry, healing and beyond
Catherine is currently active on social media via Facebook, Instagram and (to a lesser extent) YouTube.
Her debut poetry collection, The Ballad of the Bunny and Other Poems: The Diary of a Car Crash and Beyond (self published February 2024) is an exploration of her recovery through lyric poetry and personal photographs. Formatted as journal entries spanning 3.5 years, the reader is at Catherine’s side through the ‘ups, downs and back agains’ of road trauma recovery. (See here for details).
Her second book, The Life of Sir Dunstan Pigglesworth was self published in January 2025. Catherine explored her interest in art -another long-dormant passion- by producing hand-drawn illustrations to accompany the true story of her sister and pet pig. (A refreshing change in a market saturated with AI imagery). The intention of the book is to help families navigate grief. Catherine enjoys the musicality of language; the rhyming tale is written in a style she hopes both adults and children will enjoy reading and listening to. (See here for details).
Catherine is an active member of Geelong Writers Inc., recently founding and managing the Geelong Writers’ Book Stall at Barwon Heads Market. She has also held stalls at Clunes Booktown Festival, the Indie Author Book Fair and the inaugral Health Festival of Geelong, where she raised awareness of Post Concussion Syndrome and the power of poetry in her recovery process.
Catherine is a staunch advocate for the Hidden Disability Sunflower . The sunflower icon on a lanyard, bracelet or pin indicates that the wearer has a health condition that may not be immediately apparent. This might mean the wearer may need a little more time or patience, access to a bathroom, etc. Catherine has found this intitative to be invaluable whilst travelling. As her post concussion syndrome affects her word finding abilities when fatigued or whilst in busy environments, she keeps a pre-prepared written explanation card attached to the Sunflower lanyard as a way to ask for support non verbally. Catherine wears her lanyard at all public events and always carries Sunflower literature to raise awareness of this much needed program.
Outside of writing, Catherine volunteers as a Lived Experience Volunteer for Amber Community: Road Incident Support and Education, telling her story at Road Trauma Awareness Seminars (RTAS) to help change driver behaviour for the better. She also helps with fundraising. In 2024, Catherine held a live online poetry reading to raise money for Amber Community in conjunction with a belated launch of The Ballad of the Bunny. In 2025, Catherine designed greeting cards featuring her own poetry and illustrations in a second sucessful fundraising initiative.
pets, poetry and post concussion
The greeting cards are also a tribute to Catherine’s pets, who have been another huge part of her recovery process and inspire a lot of her work. Originally living in the garden, Mini Lop rabbits Missy and Doc were moved into the house after the crash to keep Catherine company in the early stages of recovery. They also supported her mental well being; after being accustomed to caring for others throughout her career, Catherine struggled with feeling helpless. The rabbits gave her something to look after whilst everyone else looked after her. Devestated when their beloved Doc died in August 2024, Catherine and Don brought home Netherland Dwarf Arthur from a shelter. He and Missy were instantly smitten, but heart breakingly Arthur died just 6 months later of an incurable genetic condition.
Today, baby Flemish Giant Carlo keeps Catherine busy. In 2022, ‘hens’ Gina and Rosa came home- though when Rosa failed to lay eggs and then began to crow, he was renamed Raymond and unfortuntately had to move out of their suburban garden. Older hen Amy then moved in, and a very small chick called Lulu followed her. She remains devoted to Gina to this day.
And Missy has been at Catherine’s side throughout her entire recovery.
achievements & accreditation
- Two poems –The Baton and The Barman at 2am– published in Locative Magazine Issue 3, May 2025
- Member of the Australian Society of Authors , Geelong Writers Inc. and Belmont Page Writing Group.
- Performed original poetry semi regularly at the now defunct Lowercase Poetry open mic events.
- Shortlisted for Geelong Writers’ Finest 500 writing competition 2024 for the poem Estuary.
- Volunteer speaker with Amber Community: Road Incident Support & Education
- Poem –PErfecT– published in poetry anthology Anamoly Street, Vol.3, no.1
- Numerous media appearances.
- Diploma in Educational Studies- University of New England, 2023
- BA (Hons) Drama & Imaginative Writing- Liverpool John Moores University, 2007
- Grade Eight in Pianoforte- Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, 2007
For more information or to contact Catherine directly, see contact page.