Australian Drama Takes Off in New Venues
La Boite Theatre is now occupying its new site within the Kelvin Grove Urban Village in Brisbane and, for the first time in the La Boite's history, will offer 'a complete season of new plays by Queensland resident writers'. Artistic Director, Sean Mee, promises a 'remarkable season', with audiences journeying through adaptations of Nick Earls's Zigzag Street and Rosamund Siemon's The Mayne Inheritance. They will experience sea voyages in Margery Forde and Michael Forde's James and Johnno, and Angela Betzien's Wicked Bodies. Further details of 2004 productions are available via La Boite's website.

In other theatre news, the Sydney Theatre Company has begun performances at its new site at Walsh Bay. The state-of-the-art theatre venue opened for business with a specially commissioned double-bill: Harbour, a Katherine Thomson drama backdropped by the waterside dispute of the late 1990s, and The Republic of Myopia, a political musical set in a land-locked European state at the turn of the twentieth century.

On-line Showcase for Australian Book Illustrators
The Style File is a new on-line resource 'showcasing the work of some of Australia's most talented book illustrators.' The site was developed by the Society of Book Illustrators (SoBI) in conjunction with The Australian Society of Authors (ASA). 'The Style File is a folio of pages, each showcasing the work of a different book illustrator. An extensive range of illustration styles and expertise are represented [...] The Style File will continually grow and develop as more artists come on board every six months.'

Over 80 illustrators are represented to date including Pamela Allen, Leigh Hobbs, Dee Huxley, Gregory Rogers, Craig Smith, Anne Spudvilas and Bruce Whatley.

Australian Connections Scattered Amid US Notable List
Australian expatriates and residents are among the list of authors included in the December 2003 Notable Books list published by The New York Times Book Review. Those with Australian connections are:

• J. M. Coetzee for Elizabeth Costello
• D. B. C. Pierre for Vernon God Little
• Shirley Hazzard for The Great Fire
• Peter Carey for My Life as a Fake
• John Murray for A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies
• Joan London for Gilgamesh

and

• Lian Hearn for Grass for His Pillow

2003 was a busy year for the AustLit team and 2004 looks like being similarly demanding as our talented researchers and indexers work hard on the continued development and improvement of the best information resource for anyone interested in Australian writers or writing. We look forward to helping you get the best out of your research and teaching this year. Some of the areas of achievement in the past year have included:

• Grants
  AustLit received funding from the Australian Research Council's Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities scheme at the beginning of 2003 to make significant progress in the building of Australian 'knowledge infrastructure' - the foundation information on, and access to, authoritative, evaluated resources, which is at the core of AustLit's activities.



• Service Developments
  
  1. The design and launch of a free Events Directory Service publicising a wide variety of events of interest to the Australian literature teaching and research communities and to the general public. Information about upcoming events can be submitted to AustLit and displayed on AustLit's home page.
  
  
  
  2. The upgrading of AustLit's search screens and search strategies, including improved and extended capabilities via the Advanced Search function.


• Research Projects
  
  1. Australian Magazines of the Twentieth Century
     This project, mapping the history, span, editorship and content of around 100 twentieth century Australian magazines, has been conducted under the leadership of Associate Professor David Carter, Professor Bruce Bennett and AustLit's Executive Manager Kerry Kilner, and through the persistent research of Dr Roger Osborne.
     
     From well-known magazines such as Meanjin and Southerly to those particularly important but very minor endeavours such as The Austrovert, Birth, and Book Lover, it is now possible to read bio-historical entries on the history and progress of each journal. You can readily access the full list of magazines covered in the project and from there explore some fascinating stories.
  
  
  
  2. The Australian Journal
     This project transfers information onto AustLit from over 3,600 'palm cards' representing every work of fiction ever published in The Australian Journal. Miri Jassy has undertaken the data entry as well as ensuring that subject descriptions accord with AustLit's thesaurus.


• Collaborative Endeavours
  
  1. Western Australian Writing : An On-Line Anthology
     Support for this innovative anthology of Western Australian literary heritage occurred as part of the University of Western Australia's collaboration in the development of the AustLit Gateway.
  
  
  
  2. On-line Access to Full Text Works
     Links to a growing range of selected full text creative and critical works that are available online were added to AustLit. In conjunction with the National Library of Australia's PANDORA Archive and the University of Sydney Library's digitising project, SETIS : Scholarly Electronic Text and Image Service, AustLit's coverage of electronically accessible full text is being progressively increased.

AustLit Initiatives in 2004

• Tropical Research
  AustLit will have a new partner in literary research during 2004 after a successful funding bid by Dr Cheryl Taylor from James Cook University (JCU). Dr Taylor will undertake special research into the writers and writing associated with the North Queensland region and a research assistant will be employed at JCU to assist with the necessary biographical and bibliographical research. The results of this work will be progressively made available on AustLit.



• Comprehensive Bibliography Heading Towards Publication of Volume Two
  Members of the AustLit team are making steady progress towards the comprehensive identification of Australians who have published creative works of book length. In addition to being available in extended form through AustLit, the outcomes of this work will progressively appear as a four-volume print publication, The Bibliography of Australian Literature, under the General Editorship of Professor John Hay and Mr John Arnold. Volume One (covering authors whose surnames begin with the letters A-E) was published in 2001; it is anticipated that the second volume, covering authors with surnames starting with the letters F-J, will be available in 2004.

New AustLit Records
During November and December 2003, the AustLit Content Development Team added:

• 5,182 new works
• 919 new agents (individuals and organisations)

In addition to these new records, thousands of existing work and agent records have been significantly upgraded and enhanced.

Founding Content Manager Departs AustLit
In December 2003, Co-Content Manager, Annette Scarvell, ended her role with AustLit. In farewelling Annette, Kerry Kilner, AustLit's Executive Manager, wrote 'Annette has been a wonderful colleague during the past four years and has contributed enormously to the development of AustLit [...] During her time with AustLit she consistently made every effort to provide guidance and help to the team as [it] tackled the new world of on-line, national collaboration and her skills and knowledge in the library environment have added great depth to AustLit. Her contribution will not be forgotten - it will be permanently imprinted on the architecture and successful operation of AustLit.'

In 2004 Annette will work at the UNSW@ADFA Library as a reference librarian. Annette will focus on the development of information literacy strategies for ADFA staff and students.

Australian Expat Wins American National Book Award
Taking over 20 years to write, Shirley Hazzard's The Great Fire has won the Fiction category of the USA National Book Award. Peter Craven (The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 January 2004) describes the book as 'a riveting, slow intoxication of a novel which has a deliberateness and a density of verbal beauty of which most literary fiction has lost even the memory.'

In her acceptance speech at the Awards ceremony, Hazzard emphasised the joy of being a writer in the English language and her delight in the breadth of work, deriving from many nationalities and historical eras, available to readers. In summing up, she said, 'We should do our best by the language. We mustn't torture it, we mustn't diminish it. We have to love it, nurture it and enjoy it. Pleasure, that's what we want from it, the true pleasure. A lot of information comes through pleasure and generosity and that's what we have in literature. That's what we have in fiction.'

Further British Acclaim for D. B. C. Pierre
Another British-based literary prize has gone to D. B. C. Pierre for his novel, Vernon God Little. After his success in winning the Booker Prize, Pierre (a pseudonym for Peter Finlay) has been awarded Best First Novel in the annual Whitbread Book Awards.

To be eligible for the Awards authors must have been resident in the United Kingdom or Ireland for over six months of each of the previous three years, although they do not need to hold British or Irish citizenship. Australian-born, Mexican-raised Finlay qualifies for the Awards as he has been living in Ireland in recent years. The overall winner of the Whitbread Book Awards will be announced in London on 27 January. See the Awards website for the final result.

Clanchy's Words Rewarded
John Clanchy's The Hard Word has won the ACT Book of the Year Award for 2003. Described by Christopher Bantick (The Courier-Mail, 2 November 2002) as an 'uncomfortably real, poignant and edifying novel', The Hard Word deals with three generations of female characters, one of whom is Vera, an ageing grandmother with Alzheimer's disease. Bantick reflects that the novel 'offers an astringent view on the way society responds and cares for the elderly.'

Clanchy's 2003 sequel, Lessons from the Heart, continues the story of the youngest of the three women, Vera's granddaughter, Laura.

Crime Pays
Jacqui Horwood has taken out the $750 first prize in the 2003 Scarlet Stiletto Award for Best Crime Short Story. Horwood's story, about a policewoman who cracks a drug case while on leave, also won the Chronicles Bookshop Award for the best police procedural. Read the full text of 'Slasher's Return' on the Sisters in Crime website.

Long List for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Dublin's annual literary award , sponsored by the international productivity-improvement company IMPAC, has announced its long list for 2004. Eight Australian books are included on the list. Each Australian state library, along with the National Library of Australia, nominated titles for the award. Libraries representing 45 other countries also made selections. Each Australian title was chosen by at least one Australian library; Thomas Keneally's An Angel in Australia was additionally selected by a Belgium library.

Australian titles on the long list are:

• Black Mirror by Gail Jones
• A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper
• Of a Boy by Sonya Hartnett
• Moral Hazard by Kate Jennings
• Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller
• Windmill Hill by Michael Jacobson
• An Angel in Australia by Thomas Keneally

and

• Judgement Rock by Joanna Murray-Smith

Malouf Essay Arouses Contrary Views
David Malouf's 'Made in England : Australia's British Inheritance' is the feature article in the latest issue of Quarterly Essay. Malouf argues that Britain has a continuing and positive influence on Australian identity, particularly through the English language and springboarding from the Age of Enlightenment. (Malouf juxtaposes this influence with the experience of Americans whom he sees as being shaped by Puritanism.) The essay canvasses Australian history and experience from a broad-brush perspective and through personal stories from Malouf's family. Malouf reveals that his father's admiration for England derived from Malouf senior's recognition of that country's embodiment of 'fair play, decency, manliness, concern for the weak and helpless, a belief that life, in the end, was serious.'

Norman Abjorensen (The Sydney Morning Herald, 26-28 December 2003) commends Malouf's 'deft skill as a polemicist' and his 'warmth, wit, affection and unerring eye for the inconvenient detail'. Mark McKenna (The Age, 10 January 2004) notes Malouf's ability to discuss 'the larger historical and political aspects of Imperial and Australian history in a manner that would make many historians envious.' Not so, according to H. A. Willis (The Canberra Times, 13 December 2003). Willis, a conservative scholar with a reputation for scrupulous research, believes that Malouf has espoused 'some rather woolly notions' and has led readers down 'a garden path best avoided' [...] Once he ventures beyond his own memories and experience, Malouf's use of historical evidence flounders in generalisations and stereotypes.' Pointing to errors of fact, Willis contends that Malouf's use of historical evidence 'does not inspire much confidence in the depth of his historical knowledge.' John Carmody (Eureka Street, vol.14 no.1, January-February 2004) concurs with Willis's appraisal. Carmody says that Malouf appears to have been 'enticed into byways which are as idiosyncratic as they are unconvincing.' Carmody decides that although Malouf draws extensively on history, his conclusions are 'eccentric, even amblyopic.'

Malouf has previously addressed issues of Australian national identity in his non-fiction writing, most particularly in 'The People's Judgment' (2000) and through his Boyer lecture series, A Spirit of Play : The Making of Australian Consciousness (1998). Several of Malouf's novels are deeply embedded in Australian historical settings. These include The Great World, Remembering Babylon and The Conversations at Curlow Creek.

The next issue of Quarterly Essay will contain responses to Malouf's argument.

Children's Writer and Environmental Activist
Hesba Brinsmead, author of more than 20 books (mostly for children and young adults), has died in Murwillumbah. Brinsmead's first novel, Pastures of the Blue Crane, won both the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award and the Dame Mary Gilmore Award in 1965. The book set the tone for many of Brinsmead's future works with its strong environmental emphasis. Brinsmead was an activist in the campaign to save Lake Pedder from flooding and two of her works bookend her involvement - children's novel, Echo in the Wilderness (1972) and prose work, I Will Not Say the Day is Done (1983).

Brinsmead's childhood was spent in a remote area of the Blue Mountains and the experiences of her family's life inspired several novels, loosely referred to as the Longtime books, beginning with Longtime Passing.

Brinsmead suffered for much of her adult life with osteoporosis and it was this condition that forced her to stop writing in the late 1980s. In 2001, increasing disability led her to leave her home at Terranora on the New South Wales north coast and she spent her remaining years in a retirement village.

Forceful Fighter for Writers' Rights
Barbara Jefferis, the first female president of The Australian Society of Authors (ASA), has died in Sydney as a result of pneumonia. Jefferis was born and educated in Adelaide, but moved to Sydney in her twenties. She worked initially as a journalist and later as a freelance writer of radio dramas and documentaries. Her first novel, Contango Day, was a prize-winner in The Sydney Morning Herald Literary Competition in 1952. Jefferis went on to publish eight other novels between 1955 and 1977, many of them translated into a range of European and Asian languages. She also reviewed books for The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Jefferis was an active member of the ASA from its inception in the 1960s and held a number of positions within the organisation. She served three terms as President of the Society, was engaged in policy making relating to Public Lending Right and also worked with the ASA's Contract Advisory Service.

Commenting on her distinguished contribution to literature, Jefferis's husband, film critic John Hinde said, 'What she did was to write real literature, readable literature, at a time when everybody else was writing very Australian literature [...] It didn't pay her at times, didn't pay her in Australia, but it paid her in the rest of the world.' (The Australian, 6 January 2004).

'Lulworth' Association Comes Full Circle
Manoly Lascaris, partner of Patrick White for 50 years, has died at White's childhood home, 'Lulworth House' (now operating as a nursing home), in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney. The son of an American mother and a Greek father, Cairo-born Lascaris met White in Alexandria during World War II. The two men settled in Australia in 1948 at Lascaris's prompting. For 16 years they lived at 'Sarsaparilla', where Lascaris was largely responsible for running the small property, and then moved closer to Sydney's centre. Lascaris was a patient presence at social occasions in their home in Centennial Park, often bearing the consequences of White's volatility in his personal relationships.

White's will stipulated that one quarter of his estate should benefit the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), but that no settlement was to be made until Lascaris's death. The New South Wales government is now in negotiations with the trustee of White's estate in a bid to buy White's Centennial Park property for future use as a museum or writers' retreat.

Social Justice Crusader
Len Fox, journalist, teacher, writer, historian and social activist has died at the age of 98. Fox was born in Melbourne (part of an extended family that included the painter E. Phillips Fox) and attended school at Scotch College where he later taught. In the early 1930s, Fox travelled in Europe and the United Kingdom where the hunger marches and the rise of Nazism profoundly affected him. On his return to Australia he joined the Communist Party and remained a member until 1970.

Fox met the dramatist Mona Brand through the Sydney Realist Writers' Group and the couple married in 1955. Fox had an extensive career as a journalist for various left-wing papers and also published dozens of political and historical works including a history of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, Dream at a Graveside. Fox campaigned strongly for the advancement of Aboriginal rights. He was active in the 1967 referendum that led to Aboriginal people gaining the right to vote and two of his books address Aboriginal issues. Long-time friend Faith Bandler was one of those who addressed the gathering at Fox's funeral.

Promoter of Greek Theatre, Film and Culture
Stathis Raftopoulos arrived in Australia in the early 1930s and, while still a young man, served with the Australian forces during World War II as the entertainer 'Rafto the Magician'. Famous as a writer and reciter of poetry, Raftopoulos found a niche in Australian society as a promoter of Greek films and drama companies. He also founded Dionysus Films and co-founded Cosmopolitan Motion Pictures, both of which played a vital role in Greek entertainment. Active in many areas of Greek community life, Raftopoulos was awarded an MBE in 1983.

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