Helen Garner is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, Monkey Grip, published in 1977, immediately established her as an original voice on the Australian literary scene—it is now widely considered a classic. She has a reputation for incorporating and adapting her personal experiences in her fiction, something that has brought her widespread attention, particularly with her novels Monkey Grip and The Spare Room (2008).
Lorrie Moore is an American writer, critic, and essayist. She is best known for her short stories, some of which have won major awards. Since 1984, she has also taught creative writing.
Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Shirley Hazzard was an Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She was born in Australia and also held U.S. citizenship.
Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO was an English-born Australian writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s and forged an illustrious literary career there. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels, four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving significant critical acclaim. She was also a pioneer of creative writing teaching in Australia, counting many well-known writers such as Tim Winton among her students at Curtin University.
Joe Cinque's Consolation: A True Story of Death, Grief and the Law is a non-fiction book written by Australian author Helen Garner, and published in 2004.
Elizabeth Harrower was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She has been considered "one of the great novelists of Sydney". Much of her work tackles the theme of domestic abuse, particularly the psychological abuse of vulnerable women at the hands of their manipulative, deceitful and tyrannical male partners.
Charlotte Wood is an Australian novelist. The Australian newspaper described Wood as "one of our [Australia's] most original and provocative writers".
The Children's Bach (1984) is a novella by Australian writer Helen Garner. It was her third published book and her second novel. It was well received critically both in Australia and abroad.
Monkey Grip is a 1977 novel by Australian writer Helen Garner, her first published book. It initially received a mixed critical reception, but has now become accepted as a classic of modern Australian literature. The novel deals with the life of single-mother Nora, as she narrates her increasingly tumultuous relationship with a flaky heroin addict, juxtaposed with her raising a daughter while living in share houses in Melbourne during the late 1970s. A film based on the novel, also titled Monkey Grip, was released in 1982. In the 1990s, when critics identified the Australian literary genre of grunge lit, the book was retrospectively categorized as one of the first examples of this genre.
Evelyn Juers is an Australian writer and publisher.
Gangaroo is the Australian imprint of Austrian publisher Gangan Verlag.
Cosmo Cosmolino is a 1992 book by Australian writer Helen Garner. The book consists of three linked works: two short stories and a novella, though the author and critics have described it as a novel.
Bronwyn Joy Oliver was an Australian sculptor whose work primarily consisted of metalwork. Her sculptures are admired for their tactile nature, aesthetics, and technical skills demonstrated in their production.
This House of Grief is a 2014 non-fiction book by Helen Garner. Subtitled "The story of a murder trial", its subject matter is the murder conviction of a man accused of driving his car into a dam resulting in the deaths of his three children in rural Victoria, Australia, and the ensuing trials. The book has been critically lauded, with The Australian declaring it a "literary masterpiece".
Everywhere I Look is a 2016 collection of short works by Australian writer Helen Garner. It is published by Text Publishing. In review in The Irish Times, Irish novelist Evelyn Conlon wrote that "it thematic selection from 15 years of work, the pieces ranging from review length to essays to snapshots from Garner's diaries."
Postcards from Surfers is a collection of short works by Australian writer Helen Garner published in 1985. The book won the 1986 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards "Christina Stead Prize for Fiction". The stories in the collection have been described as "largely about miscommunication, impossible love, and the accidental hurt we cause each other when we interact." Most of the short works in Postcards from Surfers have been included in a 2017 anthology of Garner's short fiction simply called Stories.
True Stories: Selected Non-Fiction is a collection of short non-fiction works by Australian writer Helen Garner first published in 1996 by Text Publishing. The short works in the collection start with Garner's immediate notes as a school teacher to her journalist accounts of visiting a morgue and a maternity ward in a hospital. It won the 1997 Nita Kibble Literary Award.
Alison Whittaker is a Gomeroi writer and a senior researcher at the University of Technology Sydney. A review in World Literature Today called her "Australia's most important recently emerged poet".
Philippa Ann Cullen was an Australian dancer, choreographer, teacher and performance artist who was notable for her innovative dance performances incorporating the use of the theremin and the development of movement-sensitive floors. From the late 1960s until 1974 she taught movement and dance at many venues, in Australia and overseas. Her most important classes took place on Sunday mornings in the University of Sydney Quadrangle, and were attended by dancers, actors, musicians and artists.
