Elizabeth Harrower (writer)
Elizabeth Harrower (born 1928 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian novelist and short story writer.
Early life
She was born in Sydney but spent her childhood in industrial Newcastle, New South Wales. She lived in London from 1951 to 1959. On her return to Sydney she worked as a reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald, for the ABC, and in publishing.[1]
Career
Harrower published her first three novels in quick succession. Novelist Christina Stead was a champion of her work, praising The Long Prospect in particular. In 1971 her fifth novel In Certain Circles was set to be published until she abruptly withdrew it from publication following the death of her mother.[2] In an interview with The Australian, Harrower claimed that she had written the book under pressure after receiving a grant and called the act of writing it "forced labour".[3] Afterwards she published a few short stories before giving her writing up entirely by 1977.
In 2012, following a period of obscurity during which all of her novels fell out of print, Harrower experienced a small revival when Michael Heyward and Penny Hueston, editors of the independent press Text Publishing, began to reprint her works. They attempted to persuade Harrower to publish In Certain Circles and she eventually acquiesced, allowing the novel to be published in 2014.[4] The novel received positive reviews and renewed interest in all of Harrower's novels. In 2015, a collection of stories from throughout Harrower's career was published as A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories.
Her novels show "a psychological fascination with deep-seated human motivations, fears and obsessions".[1]
Awards and nominations
- 1968: Commonwealth Literary Fund fellowship[5]
- 1974: Australian Council for the Arts fellowship[5]
- 1996: Patrick White Award[6]
Bibliography
- Down in the City (1957)
- The Long Prospect (1958)
- The Catherine Wheel (1960)
- The Watch Tower (1966)
- In Certain Circles (2014)
- A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories (2015)
References
- ^ a b Adelaide, Debra (1988) Australian women writers: a bibliographic guide, London, Pandora, p. 87
- ^ Au, Jessica (28 April 2014). "In Certain Circles by Elizabeth Harrower – book review". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- ^ Trinca, Helen (27 October 2012). "Novelist Elizabeth Harrower has lived dangerously but kept her words to herself". The Australian. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- ^ Wood, James (20 October 2014). "No Time for Lies – Rediscovering Elizabeth Harrower". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
- ^ a b Elizabeth Harrower biography, John Colmer
- ^ Guide to the Papers of Elizabeth Harrower MS 8237, National Library of Australia
External links
- Elizabeth Harrower at Text Publishing
- "Elizabeth Harrower doesn't want spoilers to her own novel", interview by Susan Wyndham, The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 May 2014
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