Marco Gliori was born in 1963 and raised in Warwick Queensland. His father was an Italian Migrant Builder, and his mother, the daughter of a dairy farmer. Marco’s childhood was spent riding his pushbike with his mates (and usually his dog Lucky in tow) exploring his ‘field of dreams’ on the banks of the Condamine River. He was an imaginative child, always stirring up a little trouble and often labelled at school as an underachieving distractive influence in the classroom, yet he was talented and self-motivated when given a task. Is it any wonder he is often asked to speak at Education Conferences these days.
Marco was a keen sportsman, representing the district in Rugby League, Basketball and
Volleyball, and met his wife Julie in his final year of Warwick State High School. Marco and Julie now reside with their three daughters and ‘Margie’ on a 32 hectare property nestled in Mountains east of Warwick. Within 12 months of leaving school Marco had been accepted into the Qld Police Service. He served for ten years and achieved the rank of Detective Senior Constable, serving in both Brisbane and North Queensland.
In 1991 Marco left the Police Service to perform his poetry fulltime. At first he would busk for
busloads of tourists on the sunshine coast and perform at festivals such as Woodford Folk Festival, Tamworth Country Music Festival and The Gympie Muster. He is still performing at these festivals, hosting the Poets Breakfast’s at The Muster, mouthing off at The Longyard Hotel in Tamworth, and The Woodford Folk Festival, and still basking in the success of five successful albums with The Naked Poets Comedy Troupe.
Marco was four-times ‘undefeated’ champion of the Imperial Hotel Bush Poetry Performance Competition in 1990,91,92 and 94. He was awarded the ‘Spirit of Matilda’ Award held in 1995 in conjunction with the 100year anniversary of Waltzing Matilda, for his poem ‘Swaggie’, an award chosen from over 2500 entries by ABC Radio National and presented to Marco by the late Slim Dusty. In 2007 Marco was voted by Australian Women’s Weekly magazine as their ‘Modern Day Banjo’ for his poem ‘The Hard Yards’.
Between 1992 and 2002, Marco performed over 2500 shows for both the Queensland and Victorian Arts Council’s ‘Artists in Education’ program, and still maintains a high profile in schools as a performer and Writer in Residence. Marco has also published his thrid book for children called Rise n Rhyme which has featured at Somerset Literary festival, Whitsunday’s Voices, Voices on The Range and Voices on the Coast. Marco has an instant report with young people, and his performances in schools inject into Poetry studies, an enthusiasm and reality that is highly sought after.
Some Marco’s poems are suitable for children, and some most definitely are not. That’s the reality of ‘Marco’...one minute he will be in the back bar of a country pub with a group of roughhouse miners, and the next day he will be marching and singing poems with pre-schoolers.
As an after dinner entertainer at conferences and conventions, whether for Truckies,
Sportsman or Company Executives, Marco weaves throughout his poems a collection of
anecdotes and comedy that have seen him become a highly popular addition to such events.
Marco’s passion for life and poetry will become evident as you read through his work. He relishes his role as a collector of stories, capturing images and emotions that stir his soul, and sharing them with others, and he does so with a compassion and honesty that is both confronting and comforting.
Marco Gliori's poem The Amway Man
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