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'‘I came to Sydney from Melbourne in 1978 and immediately fell in love with its history, the sandstone buildings, the gorgeous harbour, the bridge, the Opera House, its ad hoc streets and its denizens.’
'In Sydney, acclaimed playwright and author Louis Nowra – author of Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo – expands his gaze to explore the energy, beauty, vulgarity, dynamism and pulsating sense of self-importance of his adopted city. This big, bustling portrait of Sydney is told through profiles of people, high and low, with a cast of criminals and premiers, ordinary folk, entertainers, artists, thieves and visionaries.
'Along with its people, Nowra surveys the city’s architecture and its global identity. And as Sydney’s history unfolds throughout the twentieth century and beyond, Nowra revels in its neon lighting, music, skyscrapers and sense of optimism.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
Works about this Work
-
Seductive Sydney : The Completion of Louis Nowra’s Trilogy
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 450 2023; (p. 57-58)
— Review of Sydney : A Biography 2022 multi chapter work biography 'I recently learned (was it from Martin Amis?) that ‘pulchritude’ is a synonym for ‘beauty’. How can such an ugly word be associated with beauty? I feel the same way about ‘Sydney’, named by Governor Phillip for the British Secretary of State who had suggested an Australian colony. An ugly word that is the name of a beautiful topography, a geologically complex and weathered arrangement of water and land, and more water and land, and a spread of fragmented populations that are in many cases discrete, so discrete that where a person lives and works in this city, defines and confines them. Infrastructure and transport must cope as best they can, and with as much money as government can muster.' (Introduction) -
Sydney : A Biography Is Louis Nowra’s Love Letter to His Adopted City
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 15 December 2022;
— Review of Sydney : A Biography 2022 multi chapter work biography'Louis Nowra’s inspired biography of Sydney starts with a surprise visit to the city. He grew up in a housing commission estate in Melbourne. In 1959, while on a trip with his father to Wollongong in a truck to pick up a load of coke (for fireplaces, not drinking), his father took a detour – to Sydney. Nowra was nine.' (Introduction)
-
Sydney : A Biography Is Louis Nowra’s Love Letter to His Adopted City
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 15 December 2022;
— Review of Sydney : A Biography 2022 multi chapter work biography'Louis Nowra’s inspired biography of Sydney starts with a surprise visit to the city. He grew up in a housing commission estate in Melbourne. In 1959, while on a trip with his father to Wollongong in a truck to pick up a load of coke (for fireplaces, not drinking), his father took a detour – to Sydney. Nowra was nine.' (Introduction)
-
Seductive Sydney : The Completion of Louis Nowra’s Trilogy
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 450 2023; (p. 57-58)
— Review of Sydney : A Biography 2022 multi chapter work biography 'I recently learned (was it from Martin Amis?) that ‘pulchritude’ is a synonym for ‘beauty’. How can such an ugly word be associated with beauty? I feel the same way about ‘Sydney’, named by Governor Phillip for the British Secretary of State who had suggested an Australian colony. An ugly word that is the name of a beautiful topography, a geologically complex and weathered arrangement of water and land, and more water and land, and a spread of fragmented populations that are in many cases discrete, so discrete that where a person lives and works in this city, defines and confines them. Infrastructure and transport must cope as best they can, and with as much money as government can muster.' (Introduction)
