Glenda Adams

Novels, essays, screenwriting, theatre

Glenda is the author of the collection of short stories The Hottest Night of the Century and the novel Games of the Strong. She also won the prestigious Miles Franklin Award with her novel Dancing on Coral. This was followed by Longleg which won the 1990 Melbourne Age Book of the Year Award for Fiction. Glenda is based in Sydney and New York.
     Her last novel was The Tempest of Clemenza, published by HarperCollins Australia and Faber & Faber in the US in 1996. A stage play, The Monkey Trap, was produced by the Griffin Theatre in 1998.

Debra Adelaide

Fiction, anthologies of short fiction

Motherlove, an anthology of short fiction about mothers and babies, brilliantly edited by Debra from a surprising variety of writers, was published by Random House in 1996, followed by Motherlove II in 1997, and Cutting The Cord in 1998.

Debra’s blackly humorous novel The Hotel Albatross (Random House, 1995) deals with two people who by unhappy chance become the managers of a large country hotel. Filled with scathing vignettes of small town life and unforgettable eccentric characters, it is a novel of great warmth and humour.

Her 1998 novel Serpent Dust is a deeply moving account of the tragedies that followed the white occupation of Australia, and was published by Random House.

Acts of Dog, a collection of short stories edited by Debra, was published in 2003 by Random House. Rights were also sold into Hungary.

Her latest book is the novel Household Guide to Dying. This is a brilliant, original work which charts one woman’s attempts to make provision for her husband and daughters — from writing lists on the fridge to teaching her 8-year-old to make boiled eggs — and to confront a ghost from the past. Delia has made a living writing an acerbic advice column and a series of wildly successful modern household guides. As the book opens, she has only a short time to live. Going about the ordinary routines of daily life, she is consumed by two things: how to make provision for her husband and daughters — and how to make her peace with the past. She feels the need for the type of manual she has made her living writing; only this time it will be about dying. Not a guide to bereavement, but, as she puts it, a book about the state when you know you’re going to die, but you’re not dying yet. At the same time, she attempts to return to the places of her past, to lay a ghost and see someone who is very much alive as she prepares to say goodbye. The two stories interweave, and each section opens with very funny snippets from Delia’s acerbic advice column, and, later, her Household Guide to Dying.

Tanveer Ahmed

Non-fiction

In the late 1990s Tanveer, a journalist, medical doctor and stand up comedian, set up a cricket team with some other students and called it The Other Taliban. They had no idea the range problems a simple joke name would invoke. The story of the Taliban cricket team forms the basic structure of this work which deals with the Bangladeshi community in Sydney, and the families of the team members. A warm humorous work with an underlying serious subject at its heart – and that is the community attitudes to Muslim men post September 11.

Alan Attwood

Historical fiction

It was ambitious. It was heroic. It was a disaster. And only one man survived to tell what happened at the end. Burke’s Soldier is his story, a story of the biggest exploration expedition ever assembled in Australia. Led by Robert O’Hara Burke, an Irishman, and William Wills, an Englishman, the expedition foundered in the swamps of the far north and the deserts of Central Australia. It has become synonymous with failure and wretched luck.
     Almost forgotten is John King, the last man alive from the expedition, the one who was taken in by the natives Burke had scorned. The one who was with Burke, his leader, when he died.
     Burke’s Soldier is a powerfully written novel with wonderful literary undertones. Published by Penguin in 2003. (Rights sold: Australia/New Zealand (Penguin Australia).

Julia Baird

is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald. Scribe released her Media Tarts — How the Australian Press Frames Female Politicians at the Melbourne Writers’ Week in 2004. An insightful, accessible and impeccably researched book, it immediately received outstanding reviews.

Margaret Bearman

Novels, short fiction

Set in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Above the Water tells the story of Samantha, a young working-class girl from a welfare-dependent family with a drunken father and a brittle, ineffective mother. Convinced she will be able to make a better life for herself once she has left her family behind, she instead winds up a trauma victim living in a housing commission bed-sit in St Kilda. A poignant and ultimately uplifting novel from this new young author.
     Published by Simon and Schuster in Australia and New Zealand in 2002, and sold into the Netherlands.

John Bryson

Novels, non-fiction, television

John Bryson achieved international acclaim with Evil Angels, his celebrated book on the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain. It was also released as a major film starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill. Hodder Headline Australia released a new edition of Evil Angels in 2000.
     When John followed the Azaria Chamberlain case through the early eighties, the moment of greatest shock for him came at the conclusion of the trial. Weeks of detailed evidence from the Defence had conclusively demonstrated the profound errors of procedure that the police forensic scientists had committed. However, the jury utterly ignored the facts, and found Lindy Chamberlain guilty of murdering her baby. It was this triumph of prejudice over truth, so nakedly revealed in the jury’s decision, that spurred John on to write the book Evil Angels. It became a turning point in public opinion. Not merely exposing the flaws in the conviction, it above all demonstrated that despite Australians’ belief in their sense of fairness, prejudice can overwhelm us.
     John Bryson’s novel, To the Death, Amic, was published by Viking/Penguin in Australia and the UK in 1994. His Whoring Around was published by Penguin in 1981 and a collection of reportage, Backstage at the Revolution and Twelve Other Reports, was published by Penguin in 1988. He originated the production and wrote the courtroom scenario for the TV special Secrets of the Jury Room for SBSTV 2004.
     John lectures in law, literary journalism, and fiction, acts on advisory panels to government, NGOs, and universities, and on literary judging panels. At the end of the millennium, a Schools of Journalism panel included him in ‘The 100 Journalists of the Century’.

Helen Caldicott

Non-fiction

Doctor, anti-nuclear activist, and author of three books on nuclear energy and the environment, Helen Caldicott is the founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Her autobiography A Passionate Life was published by Random House in 1996.
     She is writing a new book on the continuing nuclear arms race and the dangers of the anti-ballistic missile system now proposed for the United States. The New Nuclear Danger was published by Simon & Schuster in the United States and Scribe Publications in Australia in 2002.
     Her latest work Nuclear Power is Not the Answer was released by Melbourne University Press in 2006. Martin Sheen says ‘In a world where dark and dangerous forces are threatening our planet, Helen Caldicott shines a powerful light. This much-needed book reverals truths that confirm that we must take positive action now if we are to make a difference.’

Paul Cleary

Non-fiction

Shakedown: Australia’s grab for Timor oil

In 2000 one of the poorest nations on earth began negotiations with Australia over rights to the lucrative oil and gas resources of the Timor Sea. With the revenue from the oil and gas fields, the young democracy of East Timor would have a chance to secure its economic future -- if Australia would allow it. In an ironic twist of fate, East Timor found that Australia, the country which had delivered freedom to the Timorese by intervening against Indonesia’s bloody attacks in 1999, was now trying to deny it a fair share of the profits. This is the inside story of Australia’s attempts to bully East Timor out of a promising future in the Timor Sea oil dispute.

Paul Cleary, a former East Timor government adviser, gives a gripping insider’s account of the six years of bruising negotiations between Australia and East Timor that followed the independence ballot. He saw how the Timorese pulled off one of the great David and Goliath feats of the region but then were unable to lay the foundations for a peaceful future. In this compelling insight into Australia’s international operations, Cleary exposes the heroes and villains who emerged in a one-hundred-billion-dollar shakedown.

Catherine Cole

Fiction, crime novels

The Grave at Thu Le explores a young French woman’s relationship with the Hanoi of her family who lived in the colonial community from 1900 to 1954. Visiting the city for the first time as a tourist, Catherine is struck by Hanoi’s complexities and the ways in which the city’s history has been interwoven with her own.
      There are houses to visit, streets which bear different names from the French ones of her family stories, colonial buildings and contemporary ones built since the ‘American’ war. There are also secrets and surprises, a distant Vietnamese cousin, old Sorbonne-educated politicians, war veterans, artists and teenage Hanoians in love with American culture.
     She has to examine and understand all their stories before she can solve the mystery which has plagued her own. The Grave at Thu Le was released in 2005 by Pan Macmillan.
     Catherine is a recent recipient of a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Technology and two major writing fellowships — at the Keesing studio in Paris, and an Asialink residency in Vietnam. Catherine is also the author of two crime novels.

Eva Cox

Feminism, economics, essays, public speaking

High-profile feminist economist, and very much in demand as a public speaker and commentator. She delivered the ABC Boyer Lectures in 1995 and her book Leading Women - an examination of he place of women in the contemporary political economy of Australia - was published by Random House in 1996.

Christopher Cyrill

Novels, short fiction

Christopher Cyrill’s first novel, The Ganges and Its Tributaries, was published to critical acclaim in 1993 by McPhee Gribble/Penguin Books.
     His last novel, Hymns For the Drowning, was released by Allen & Unwin in 1999. He was born in 1970.

"His prose is remarkably controlled, even poetic in its pitch and rhythm, yet without the self-conscious verbosity that is too often mistaken for the same".

- James Bradley, The Australian

John Dale

Crime novels, biography

His fast-paced thriller Dark Angel (HarperCollins,1995) won the Ned Kelly Crime Writing Award for best first novel, and was released by Serpent’s Tail in the UK. Another thriller, The Dogs Are Barking, was published in 1999 in Australia and the UK.
     His book A Dangerous Life, on prostitute and murder victim Salli-Anne Huckstepp, was published in 2000 by Allen & Unwin. John Dale’s new website has more information about Salli-Anne Huckstepp.
     John’s new book, Wildlife, part autobiographical part fictive telling of his grandfather’s mysterious death, was released by Allen & Unwin in 2004.

Follow this link to read the first chapter of John Dale’s Huckstepp — A Dangerous Life here on this site

"[John Dale] uses the meld of dogged pursuit, attention to detail and intuitive leaps of imagination that distinguishes the good detective... The result is a significant original work that challenges as much as it reveals."

     — Murray Waldren, The Australian

Genna de Bont

Fiction

Down the hallway we hobbled, moving as one, like an ant carrying a burden much larger than itself. Out through the exit, so we didn’t have to return to the waiting room. A one-way circuit with people like me in mind: the difficult ones.

For successful artist Mallory Smith, painting has always been an escape — from his lonely childhood, his turbulent relationships with his three wives, and the birth of a daughter with a severe disability. But art is failing him now. Since being diagnosed with a terminal illness only two things matter: finishing the mud- brick house he started, and getting to know Em, the enigmatic young woman who must surely be the daughter he has not seen in twenty years.
    As Mallory traces his colourful past, we see him through the eyes of the women in his life. His ex-wife Margaret challenges him to face his future, while his much younger wife Sueyen buries herself in her work to escape their failing marriage.
    The Pepper Gate is a compelling and unpredictable novel about building relationships and deconstructing the past.

Genna de Bont is a new literary fiction author. She was born in Tasmania. Her father was a bank officer and the family moved often, living for varying periods in South Australia, Papua New Guinea, Western Australia and Victoria. After completing university studies, Genna worked for several years with children with disabilities. Her particular interest in language learning and literacy were later extended into her work with adults with neurological impairment. She lives in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges with her husband and family, and is currently (2007) working on her second novel.

The Pepper Gate is published by the University of Queensland Press.
Author photo: Sarah de Bont

Anne de Lisle

Anne is a writer of classic romance fiction. She has recently completed The Legend of Creag Mhór, set in the Scottish Highlands. In a departure from her previous titles, The Legend of Creag Mhór explores the paranormal. Is there a ghost at Creag Mhór, or is our heroine Cate Denning imagining a supernatural presence in the abandoned ruins nearby? This novel has been contracted to Bastei Verlag in Germany and AST in Russia.
     A new book, A Grand Passion, a non-fiction work based on the restoration of Baddow House in Maryborough, Queensland, was released by Random House in 2007.

Robert Dessaix

Novels, essays, journalism, literary interviews

For many years Robert was the presenter of the ABC Radio National’s Books and Writing program. His autobiography, A Mother’s Disgrace, was published by HarperCollins in 1994.
     Robert’s best-selling novel Night Letters was published to great success in Australia, U.K. and the U.S.A. as well as being translated into German, French, Italian, Dutch, Finnish and Portuguese. This was followed by Corfu, released by Scribners in the UK in 2001 and in the Netherlands by Muelenhoff.
     His most recent work, Twilight of Love highlights Robert’s fascination with Russia and in particular Russian writers. He is a fluent Russian speaker and his doctoral thesis was on the author Ivan Turgenev. In Twilight of Love he revisits the Europe he experienced more than twenty years ago and follows the footsteps of Turgenev.
     Partly inspired by Alice Kaplan’s French Lessons (a memoir about ‘falling in love with a language not one’s own’);  Richard Holmes’ Footsteps; and Alain de Botton’s books about Proust, philosophy and the art of travel, Robert explores these ideas and more as he weaves together Turgenev’s time in the nineteenth century, his own Soviet experience, and Russia as it is today.

Released at the Melbourne Writers’ Week in 2004 by Pan Macmillan, it was also published in the UK by Simon and Schuster and in the US by Shoemaker and Hoard.

Robert is currently work on a book based on the Nobel Prize winning author André Gide.

Ross Duncan

Fiction

Ross Duncan is a lawyer and also works occasionally as a freelance journalist. He has been a regular visitor to Fiji in recent years.

Martin Flint has been hit hard. Two years ago his young daughter died in an accident and now his marriage is in jeopardy. More and more Martin is turning to the only other friend he’s got: The Pillars of Wisdom poker machine — until it lets him down one time too many.

From the realm of Sydney’s poker machine parlours to the bars and backstreets of Suva, All Those Bright Crosses is a compelling insight into addiction, grief and the elusive nature of happiness.

Arabella Edge

Novels, historical fiction

The God of Spring

The Company, Arabella’s gripping debut novel based on the shipwreck of the Dutch ship the Batavia in 1629, was published to critical acclaim in Australia, Britain, the US, and translated into Dutch, French and German.
     Her new novel The God of Spring is set in Paris during the upheavals of the French Revolution, the Empire and the Restoration, and is inspired by the fascinating life of the artist Theodore Gericault.
     Born 1791, his career as a painter took off at an early age when his painting Charging Chasseur, depicting a soldier leading a cavalry into battle, was selected for the prestigious Salon. He was awarded a gold medal. He was 21 and determined to ‘shine, illuminate and astonish the world’.
     He then began an adulterous love affair with his uncle’s young wife. Six years older than Gericault, Alexandrine exerted a strong influence over her lover. When she gave birth to a son, a child her husband knew he could not have fathered, she was sent to the country and the child placed into foster care. The scandal was covered up. Meanwhile France was in turmoil; finally Napoleon was defeated and Louis XVIII was reinstated.
     In 1819 Gericault prepared his painting for that year’s Salon. He decided to paint the story of the sinking of the ship Medusa, or in particular that aspect of the story where those men who could not be accommodated in the lifeboats constructed a raft made from beams and masts lashed together with rope, and were set adrift. When his painting The Raft of the Medusa was shown at the Salon (see detail, below) it was derided by the French critics, but highly acclaimed in England where more than 50,000 people paid to see the work when it went on display. Depressed by its reception in France, Gericault became increasingly unwell and after an agonising illness from a tumor of the spine, died in 1824. He was 34. Meanwhile his mistress, Alexandrine, survived her lover by 54 years, dying in 1875 aged 90.

Rights sold: Australia/New Zealand (Pan Macmillan), Britain (Picador) and Simon and Schuster in the USA. She is currently working on a non-fiction book on shipwrecks for ABC Books.

Will Elliott

Fiction

When the ABC announced a new prize for fiction they received 900 entries. The winner of this inaugural fiction prize by the ABC for 2006 was a satirical horror fantasy titled The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott. He is 26 years old and this is his first novel. Will brings a breath of fresh air into the literary world with his highly imaginative sensibility and his vigorous writing style.

ABC Award judge Delia Falconer said ‘The Pilo Family Circus plunges the reader full-pelt into a world of comic book violence that is underpinned by a more sinister and ancient evil. When the hero Jamie is press-ganged into working for the Pilo circus as a clown with supernatural powers he has to face up to the dark side of his own human nature; and so, by inference, do we. William Elliott’s characters are bizarre and disturbing, his scenarios at times darkly funny.’

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