ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

I’ve given up doing reading challenges, but I have some ongoing reading projects and a blog project to refine a ‘must-read’ list of Australian literature.  The first two reading projects are hosted elsewhere (click the links).

• The Complete Booker: I collect Booker winners in first editions, so of course I want to read them all.
• Read the Nobels: Some of the world’s most interesting writers have won the Nobel, so these winners are rarely a disappointment.
• Miles Franklin winners: I collect hardback winners in first edition and plan to read them all eventually.  I read many of them before I started this blog, but there are about 30 of them reviewed here.
• I’ve also got a desultory project to Read a Century of Australian Books.

Then there’s another ongoing one, reading from the always updating 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Update 23/9/23: I have a collection of literary biographies, and I have an ongoing project to read them all, especially the ones about Australian authors listed here.  Titles will be removed from this list as I read them and added to my Literary Biographies page (in the top menu) and my Literary Biographies category, find it by using the drop-down menu in ‘Search by Author etc at the top of the RH menu directly underneath the Search box.)

Titles are ordered alphabetically by the name of the subject of the biography, in bold.
Last updated 18/10/23, 27 titles to go.

Literary Biographies of Australian Authors

1. He (2021), by Murray Bail 
2. Barbara Baynton, Between Two Worlds (1989), by Penne Hackforth-Jones
3. Martin Boyd, A Life(1988), by Brenda Niall
4. Aunts Up the Cross  (1965), by Robin Dalton
5. Eleanor Dark, a Writer’s Life (1998) by Barbara Brooks with Judith Clark
6. The Shark Net (2000) by Robert Drewe
7. Miles Franklin (1967) by Marjorie Barnard
8. May Gibbs, More than a Fairy Tale, an Artistic Life, by Robert Holden and Jane Brummit
9. Daddy, We Hardly Knew You (1989), by Germaine Greer
10. My Tongue Is My Own, A Life of Gwen Harwood (2022), by Ann-Marie Priest
11. Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life (2022) by Brigitta Olubas
12. Xavier Herbert (1998), by Frances De Groen
13. George Johnson (1986) by Garry Kinnane
14. Leaping into Waterfalls, the Enigmatic Gillian Mears (2021), by Bernadette Brennan
15. Our Man Elsewhere, in search of Alan Moorehead (2016) by Thornton McCamish
16. Gerald Murnane (1993), by Imre Salusinszky
17. Life Class, the Education of a Biographer (2007) by Brenda Niall
18. The Wild Oats of Han (1928) by Katharine Susannah Prichard
19. Henry Handel Richardson (2004) by Michael Ackland
20. Myself When Young (1948) by Henry Handel Richardson
21. From Poet to Novelist, the Orphic Journey of John A Scott (2022) by Peter D Mathews
22. Randolph Stow, (includes interviews)(1990), edited by Anthony J Hassall
23. Mick: A Life of Randolph Stow (2016) by Suzanne Falkiner
24. The Missing Heir (1986), by Kylie Tennant
25. George Turner A Life, (1999) by Judith Raphael Buckrich
26. Only Happiness Here, in search of Elizabeth von Arnim (2020) by Gabrielle Carey
27. The Generations of Men (1959) by Judith Wright

A ‘Completist’ project

There are also major Australian authors – and some less established authors who I think have a great future – whose long form fiction oeuvre (and the occasional NF) I want to read over time. I have been reading most of them since long before I started reading this blog, so not every book is ever going to be reviewed here, and it’s most often a challenge just to find copies of the backlist.  But since many of these authors are still living and publishing, it’s a movable feast.

Please note that this is not a Best Of list, it’s a project list.  There are authors I really like who are not on this list because I’ve already read everything they’ve published.

Asterisked authors have their own Author Page from when I hosted a ‘reading week’, see the top menu above.  Links go to reviews on this blog.

• Jessica Anderson (1916-2010)
• Robyn Annear
• Robbie Arnott
• Thea Astley AO (1925-2004)*
• Larissa Behrendt AO (b.1969)
• Tony Birch
• Carmel Bird (b.1940)
• Martin Boyd AO (1893-1972)
• Robyn Cadwallader
• Peter Carey AO (b.1943)
• Steven Carroll (b.1949)
• Brian Castro (b.1950)
• Simon Cleary (b.1968)
• Christy Collins
• Sophie Cunningham AM
• Amanda Curtin
• Stephen Daisley
• Eleanor Dark AO (1901-1985)
• Liam Davison tribute (1957-2014)
• Gregory Day
• Michelle de Kretser (b.1957)
• Ceridwen Dovey (b.1980)
• Robert Drewe (b.1943)
• Beverley Farmer (1941-2018)
• Richard Flanagan  (b.1961)
• Enza Gandolfo
• Andrea Goldsmith (b.1950)
• Peter Goldsworthy AM (b.1951)
• Germaine Greer (non-fiction) (b.1939)
• Rodney Hall AM (b.1935)
• Marion Halligan AM (b.1940)
• Jacinta Halloran 
• Elizabeth Harrower (1928-2020)
• Shirley Hazzard (1931-2016)
• Anita Heiss AM (b.1968)
• Helen Hodgman (1945-2022)
• Patrick Holland (b.1977)
• John Hughes (b.1961)
• David Ireland AM (1927-2022)
• Barbara Jefferis AM (1917-2004)
• Susan Johnson (b.1956)
• George Johnson OBE (1912-1970)
• Michelle Johnston
• Elizabeth Jolley* AO (1923-2007)
• Nicholas Jose (b.1952)
• Thomas (Tom) Keneally AO (B.1935)
• Christopher Koch AO (1932-2013)
• Eleanor Limprecht
• Amanda Lohrey (b.1947)
• Joan London (b.1948)
• Melissa Lucashenko (b.1967)
• Wayne Macauley
• Roger McDonald (b.1941)
• David Malouf AO (b.1934)
• Olga Masters (1919-1986)
• Michael Meehan 
• Alex Miller (b.1936)
• Drusilla Modjeska (b.1946)
• Frank Moorhouse AM (1938-2022)
• Marie Munkara
• Gerald Murnane (b. 1939)
• Brenda Niall AM (biography, b.1930)
• D’Arcy Niland (1917-1967)
• Louis Nowra (b.1950)
• Kristina Olsson
• Paddy O’Reilly (b.1956)
• Stephen Orr
• Vance Palmer (1885-1959)
• Ruth Park AM (1917-2010)
• Bruce Pascoe (B.1947)
• A.S. (Alec) Patric
• Elliot Perlman (b.1964)
• Katharine Susannah Prichard (1883-1969)*
• Henry Handel Richardson (1870-1946)
• Hazel Rowley, biography (1951-2011)
• Philip Salom (b.1950)
• John (Alan) Scott (b.1948)
• Kim Scott (b.1957)
• Thomas Shapcott AO (b. 1935)
• Trevor Shearston
• Christina Stead* (1902-1983)
• Randolph Stow (1935-2010)
• John Tesarsch
• Kylie Tennant AO (1912-1988)
• Karenlee Thompson
• Lucy Treloar
• Patrick White (1912-1990) Winner of the Nobel Prize in 1973
• Rohan Wilson
• Tara June Winch (b.1983)
• Amy Witting (1918-2001)
• Charlotte Wood AM (b.1965)
• Alexis Wright (b.1950)
• Ouyang Yu (b.1955)