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Penelope Hanley Penelope Hanley i(A847 works by) (a.k.a. Penny Hanley; Pen Hanley)
Born: Established: 1953 Brisbane, Queensland, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Penelope Hanley was born in Brisbane and moved with her family to East Gippsland as a baby. She undertook an English honours degree at the Australian National University and began publishing her writing in student newspapers, local magazines and the Canberra Times. Hanley later completed a PhD on Australian women artists, which included a novel titled Wild Women. She has worked as a writer, editor, researcher and communications manager.

Hanley has edited books and papers on a variety of subjects, including in urban and environmental studies and film restoration. She has written numerous book and film reviews, and taught creative writing. Her published fiction includes short stories and the novel Full House, a lively contemporary comedy of manners. She has twice been a Writer's Fellow at Varuna, the Eleanor Dark Foundation residence, and won a writer's grant from the ACT Government to assist in the completion of her third novel.

Penelope has also written the non-fiction works: Inspiring Australians: The First Fifty Years of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (2015, published by Australian Scholarly Publishing) and Women in Politics: Showing the Way (2010, published by Australian Local Government Association).

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon After She Left Paddington : Impact Press , 2019 15873013 2019 single work novel

'When young Irish artist Deirdre O’Mara emigrates from the remote Blasket Islands to Sydney’s The Rocks in the 1920s, she makes an indelible mark on conservative society with her surrealist art and bohemian ways. Just after the Second World War, Deirdre leaves for Europe to be with her lover – leaving behind her estranged daughter and a family secret.  

'Years later, Deirdre’s granddaughter Keira is determined to discover the secret and her mother, Maureen, clinging to her own fears of the past and a desire to change her future, fights to stop her.

'When the three women’s lives intersect amidst the emerging women’s liberation movement and political tension in 1970s Sydney, what price will be paid for the deceptions of the past?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2019 highly commended ACT Writing and Publishing Awards Fiction
Last amended 29 Jan 2019 08:36:16
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