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Margaret Simons Margaret Simons i(A8417 works by)
Born: Established: 1960 ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Political commentator and journalist Margaret Simons grew up in Adelaide, where she completed her university undergraduate studies. She then spent nine years working with the Melbourne Age newspaper. She received a Doctorate in Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney, and has been a Senior Associate of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, as well as a research fellow at the Institute of Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology, researching new media and its application to journalism. Simons has published Fit to Print : Inside the Canberra Press Gallery (1999), The Meeting of the Waters : The Hindmarsh Island Affair (2003), Latham's World : The New Politics of the Outsider (2004), The Content Makers : Understanding the Media in Australia (2007) which was shortlisted for the 2008 Black Dawson Waldron Prize for Business Literature and Faith Money and Power : What the Religious Revival Means for Politics (2007). She also published the gardening book Resurrection in a Bucket: The Rich and Fertile Story of Compost (2004). For many years Simons wrote the popular gardening column 'Earthmother' that appeared in the Australian newspaper.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Penny Wong : Passion and Principle Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2019 16822153 2019 single work biography

'A revelatory portrait of one of the most talented, poised and respected women in Australian politics, written by one of Australia’s foremost biographers.

'Senator Penny Wong is an extraordinary Australian politician. Resolute, self-possessed and a penetrating thinker on subjects from workplace relations to foreign affairs, she is admired by members of parliament and the public from across the political divide.

'In this first-ever biography of Penny Wong, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons traces her story: from her early life in Malaysia, to her student activism in Adelaide, to her entry into the male-dominated chambers of federal parliament, to her leading role as a voice of reason and respect in the polarising campaign to legalise same-sex marriage. What emerges is a picture of a leader for modern Australia, a cool-headed, cautious yet charismatic figure of piercing intelligence and a personal history linking back to Australia’s colonial settlers through to its multicultural present.

'Drawing on exclusive interviews with Penny Wong, and her Labor colleagues, parliamentary opponents, close friends and family, this scintillating portrait of an Australian politician without precedence promises to be one of the most talked-about political biographies of the year.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2021 shortlisted National Biography Award
2020 longlisted Walkley Award Best Non-Fiction Book
2020 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian Biography of the Year
y separately published work icon Kerry Stokes : Self-Made Man Melbourne : Penguin , 2013 6547529 2013 single work biography

'Kerry Stokes came into the world with no advantages. Unlike his rival magnates, he built his empire from nothing. Kerry Stokes: Self-Made Man is the real, fascinating story behind the rabbits-to-riches ascendancy of one of Australia's most powerful men.

'Plucked from an orphanage as an infant, Kerry Stokes grew up in the slums and streets of post-Depression Melbourne with his itinerant, adoptive parents. As a boy he trapped, skinned and sold rabbits to make ends meet, and seemed destined to a life of hardship and poverty.

'Today Stokes is one of Australia's most successful business moguls, with interests in property, mining, construction equipment and media. He picked the boom in China ahead of the pack, and has forged strong relationships in that country. He is a recipient of Australia's highest civil honour, and in 2013 he was a nominee for Australian of the Year. He owns what is probably the finest private art collection in the country, and has sat on the governing bodies of some of our leading cultural institutions. As the Packer family departs the media and the Murdoch clan tackles damage to its reputation on three continents, Stokes is emerging as the single most influential media proprietor in Australia.

'Yet Stokes has remained relatively low-profile, and is notoriously private. Mysterious and elusive, Stokes is the archetypal self-made man, driven by the determination to escape his past and the legacy of disadvantage. But at what cost?' (Publisher's blurb)

2014 shortlisted Ashurst Business Literature Prize
2014 longlisted Walkley Award Best Non-Fiction Book
2014 winner Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Western Australian History
y separately published work icon Malcolm Fraser : The Political Memoirs Carlton : Miegunyah Press , 2010 Z1670364 2010 single work autobiography

'Malcolm Fraser is one of the most interesting and possibly most misunderstood of Australia's Prime Ministers. In this part memoir and part authorised biography, Fraser at the age of 79 years talks about his time in public life.

'From the Vietnam War to the Dismissal and his years as Prime Minister, through to his concern in recent times for breaches in the Rule of Law and harsh treatment of refugees, Fraser emerges as an enduring liberal, constantly reinterpreting core values to meet the needs of changing times.

'Written in collaboration with journalist Margaret Simons, Malcolm Fraser's political memoirs trace the story of a shy boy who was raised to be seen and not heard, yet grew to become one of the most persistent, insistent and controversial political voices of our times.

'The book offers insight into Malcolm Fraser's substantial achievements. He was the first Australian politician to describe Australia's future as multicultural, and his federal government was the first to pass Aboriginal Land Rights and Freedom of Information legislation, also establishing the Human Rights Commission.

'After his parliamentary career, Fraser continued to be an important player in public life, playing a key role in persuading the USA Congress to impose sanctions on South Africa as part of the battle against apartheid. He was also the founding chair of CARE Australia, one of our largest aid agencies.' (From the publisher's website.)

2011 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Book of the Year
2011 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
Last amended 19 Mar 2020 08:46:36
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