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Kerryn Goldsworthy Kerryn Goldsworthy i(A21881 works by) (a.k.a. Kerryn Lee Goldsworthy)
Born: Established: 1953 South Australia, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Writer, journalist, critic and editor, Kerryn Goldsworthy grew up in rural South Australia and has a BA and PhD from the University of Adelaide. She taught at Melbourne University from 1981-1997 as tutor, lecturer and then as Senior Lecturer 1989-1997 before returning to live in Adelaide to work as a freelance writer and independent scholar. Former editor of the Australian Book Review (May 1986 to Dec 1987) she has edited several anthologies of Australian writing and has published a collection of short stories and a book on Helen Garner. She has been involved with South Australia's Writers' Week and the Commonwealth Foundation's writers' awards, and is a regular monthly columnist for The Adelaide Review. She is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide.

Most Referenced Works

Affiliation Notes

  • South Australian

Personal Awards

2017 winner The Horne Prize
2013 ABR Patrons' Fellow Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship for her article, titled ‘Everyone’s a Critic’
2013 winner Geraldine Pascall Prize for Critical Writing Critic of the Year

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Adelaide Kensington : University of New South Wales Press , 2011 Z1802290 2011 single work prose 'A painting, a frog cake, a landmark, a statue, a haunting newspaper photograph, a bucket of peaches, pink shorts in parliament, concert tickets, tourist maps ... Kerryn Goldsworthy's Adelaide is a museum of sorts, a personal guide to the city through a collection of iconic objects. Adelaide navigates her southern home, discovering its identifying curios and passing them to the reader to touch, inspect and marvel at. These objects explore the beautiful, commonplace, dark and contradictory history of Adelaide: the heat, the wine, the weirdness, the progressive politics and the rigid colonial formality, the sinister horrors and the homey friendliness. They all paint a lively portrait of her home city - as remembered, lived in, thought about, missed, loved, hated, laughed at, travelled to and from, seen from afar and close up by assorted writers, citizens and visitors - but mainly as it exists in her memory and imagination.' (Publisher's blurb)
2012 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Award for Non-Fiction
2012 shortlisted The National Year of Reading 2012 Our Story Collection South Australia
y separately published work icon Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2009 Z1590615 2009 anthology correspondence diary drama essay extract poetry prose short story (taught in 23 units)

'Some of the best, most significant writing produced in Australia over more than two centuries is gathered in this landmark anthology. Covering all genres - from fiction, poetry and drama to diaries, letters, essays and speeches - the anthology maps the development of one of the great literatures in English in all its energy and variety.

'The writing reflects the diverse experiences of Australians in their encounter with their extraordinary environment and with themselves. This is literature of struggle, conflict and creative survival. It is literature of lives lived at the extremes, of frontiers between cultures, of new dimensions of experience, where imagination expands.

'This rich, informative and entertaining collection charts the formation of an Australian voice that draws inventively on Indigenous words, migrant speech and slang, with a cheeky, subversive humour always to the fore. For the first time, Aboriginal writings are interleaved with other English-language writings throughout - from Bennelong's 1796 letter to the contemporary flowering of Indigenous fiction and poetry - setting up an exchange that reveals Australian history in stark new ways.

'From vivid settler accounts to haunting gothic tales, from raw protest to feisty urban satire and playful literary experiment, from passionate love poetry to moving memoir, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature reflects the creative eloquence of a society.

'Chosen by a team of expert editors, who have provided illuminating essays about their selections, and with more than 500 works from over 300 authors, it is an authoritative survey and a rich world of reading to be enjoyed.' (Publisher's blurb)

Allen and Unwin have a YouTube channel with a number of useful videos on the Anthology.

2010 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
2010 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Special Award
y separately published work icon Australian Book Review ABR 1961 Kensington Park : ABR Publications , Z887646 1961 periodical (584 issues)

The Australian Book Review (ABR) was established in 1961 to provide a forum for the review of new Australian books. Editors, Max Harris and Geoffrey Dutton, planned to 'notice' or review every new Australian book, but this desire proved difficult to realise due to a rising number of books and the difficulty of defining what an Australian book was. Nevertheless, ABR employed a range of reviewers to provide general readers with authoritative assessments of important books. These reviewers included Frank Kellaway, Olaf Ruhen, Vale Lindsay, Tom Shapcott, Brian Dibble, Bruce Beaver and Don Watson.

Rosemary Wighton became co-editor in 1962 after acting as associate editor for a short time. She and Harris remained co-editors of ABR until 1973 when the magazine ceased operation after finding it increasingly difficult to meet production costs. An attempt was made by the newly formed National Book Council (NBC) to buy ABR, but, due to legal technicalities, this was not possible at that time. In 1978, John McLaren convinced the NBC to revive ABR and the magazine was adopted as the official organ of the NBC.

John McLaren was appointed editor, proceeding in a manner similar to the first series by attempting to review all Australian books; but he also faced problems of space and definition. In 1986 Kerryn Goldsworthy replaced McLaren as editor, and introduced a stronger concentration on women's issues. Louise Adler followed Goldsworthy as editor in 1988 and attempted to provoke debate by commissioning controversial reviews, but her term concluded within twelve months. Rosemary Sorenson was appointed editor in 1989, bringing a lighter tone and a desire to attract a new readership with younger writers. Sorenson was assisted by major sponsorship from Telecom, allowing her to fund a series of essays. While ABR had always published features on various topics, the sponsorship gave the essays a more significant place. The essay feature has continued with similar sponsorship from the National Library of Australia and La Trobe University.

Helen Daniel edited ABR from 1994 until her death in 2000. She lifted the profile of the magazine by organising several series of public forums and encouraged new writers with competitions for fiction and reviewing. During this time, the NBC wound down its operations after a significant proportion of its government funding was withdrawn. This had an immediate effect on the stability of ABR, forcing the magazine to separate from its parent body and publish independently.

Peter Rose was appointed editor in January 2001 and has since expanded the scope of ABR by actively commissioning poetry and fiction. Rose also developed a sponsorship scheme to support the work of ABR. In 2002 La Trobe University became the Chief Sponsor of ABR, with the National Library of Australia as its National Sponsor. Three years later Flinders University became another key sponsor and in 2007 the wealth management group Ord Minnett took on the role of exclusive corporate sponsor.

2021 recipient The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund Cultural Fund Grants for Organisations Commentary, theatre and visual arts reviews
2020 recipient The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund Cultural Fund Grants for Organisations Two grants, in May (Commentary on cultural, political and social issues) and in July (ABR Arts – Theatre and visual arts reviews).
Last amended 22 Jan 2018 10:13:11
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