Biographers in Conversation

Bernadette Brennan's "Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, award-winning biographer Dr Bernadette Brennan chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears, a literary biography that explores the rich, tumultuous life of Gillian Mears, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers.
 
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Gillian Mears’s lived and imaginative lives were rich with adventure, risk and often transgressive passion. Her sensuality and sexuality were the driving forces of her life and writing, and her personal and fictional worlds coalesce
Why Bernadette Brennan chose the title, Leaping into Waterfalls
Why she explored the meaning of the metaphors in Gillian’s writing, suggesting what they reveal about Gillian’s character
How Bernadette took control of the narrative despite Gillian’s valiant attempts to curate her image through her annotated archives of 123 boxes of letters, diaries’ manuscripts and other traces of her life
How Bernadette retraced Gillian’s footsteps to create an authentic sense of place
How Bernadette balanced Gillian’s life story with literary criticism of her oeuvre
How Bernadette kept the focus on Gillian while also portraying the historical, social and cultural context of her times, which included prominent authors such as Helen Garner, Tim Winton and Kate Grenville
Ethical decisions about what evidence to include, emphasise and suppress given that Gillian’s sensuality and sexuality were at the core of her identity and informed her writing.

Helen Ennis' 'Max Dupain: A Portrait'

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the acclaimed author and art historian Dr Helen Ennis chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Max Dupain: A Portrait, the first biography of the photographer Max Dupain, Australia’s most influential photographer of the 20th century.  
 
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:  
Helen Ennis’s inspiration for crafting Max Dupain: A Portrait  
How Max Dupain’s photograph ‘The floater’ influenced Helen’s narrative strategy and the biography’s tone  
How Dupain’s character drove the plot  
How the women in Dupain’s life and work were instrumental to his success  
How Helen achieved a fine balance between Dupain’s professional and public life and his human story  
How she reconciled Dupain’s contradictions and complexity to craft a biography characterised by intense psychological closeness  
How she ensured her voice as the narrator didn’t overshadow Dupain’s voice and artistic vision  
The extent to which Helen interpreted Dupain’s character and behaviour versus providing clues and leaving it up to readers to draw their own   conclusions.

Anna Funder’s ‘Wifedom’: Restoring Visibility & Voice

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with multi-award-winning author Anna Funder about her choices while crafting Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life. Wifedom resurrects Eileen O’Shaughnessy, a brilliant Oxford graduate who married George Orwell in 1936.  
   
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:   
Anna Funder’s inspiration for writing Wifedom  
Why and how Eileen O’Shaughnessy was written out of George Orwell’s life story  
How Anna restored Eileen’s voice and visibility  
How Anna challenged the traditional biographical form by blending memoir, biography, literary criticism and feminist polemic  
The literary devices Anna employed to craft compelling and at times, gripping, narrative  
How Anna retraced Eileen’s footsteps through World War Two London and the trenches of the Spanish Civil War  
How Anna revealed the systemic biases that have historically silenced women’s contributions, especially those of a wife or female partner  
Why Wifedom stands as a testament to the importance of re-examining history through a more inclusive lens, ensuring voices like Eileen’s are heard and remembered.  

Jacqueline Kent. A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Jacqueline Kent chats with Gabriella about the choices she made while writing A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life, the biography of Australia’s doyenne of publishing.
.Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Jacqueline Kent’s inspiration for writing a second edition of A Certain Style after her first edition won the National Biography Award in 2002. 
How Jacqueline structured A Certain Style by bringing together three strands of narrative. 
How Jacqueline retraced Beatrice Davis’s footsteps when so much of the 1940s and 1950s Sydney landscape Davis knew has been replaced by glass towers and automatic teller machines. 
Jacqueline’s views on why biographers must avoid making things up. 
How Jacqueline navigated the rumours about Davis that flew around Sydney’s close- knit publishing circles.
How Jacqueline reconciled contradictions in Davis’s character and behaviour.
The literary devices Jacqueline employed to craft witty, captivating narrative.
The extent to which Jacqueline felt she captured the truth of her subject.
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Ashleigh Wilson: A Year with Wendy Whiteley: Conversations About Art, Life and Gardening

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
In this episode of Biographers in Conversation Ashleigh Wilson chats with Gabriella about his book: A Year with Wendy Whiteley: Conversations About Art, Life and Gardening.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Ashleigh Wilson shares his inspiration for writing A Year with Wendy Whiteley: Conversations About Art, Life and Gardening and why he refers to the book as a conversational portrait rather than as a biography. 
Ashleigh explains why he opened the book with a detailed description of Wendy Whiteley’s kitchen table. 
He discloses why he framed each chapter around a particular topic and why he kept returning to the kitchen table as the central anchor. 
Ashleigh reveals how knowing Wendy Whiteley influenced how he portrayed her and the complexities of writing about a living subject. 
He also outlines the novelistic devices he employed to evoke an authentic portrayal of Australia’s art world in the 1960s and 70s, and the extent to which he interpreted Wendy’s character and behaviour versus providing facts and clues and leaving it to readers to form their own interpretations.
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Christie Lowrance: Nature’s Ambassador

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Christie Lowrance chats with Gabriella about her strategy for writing Nature’s Ambassador: The Legacy of Thornton W. Burgess, the children’s author and naturalist. Christie’s book is the first complete biography of Thornton W. Burgess, the preeminent 20th century naturalist, wildlife advocate, children’s author and pioneer in environmental education and radio programming. 
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Christie Lowrance shares her inspiration for writing Nature’s Ambassador. 
Christie also reveals why she lives in the house in which Thornton Burgess was born.
Christie explains her research strategy, which includes a trove of primary source material, with extensive quotations from Thorton’s correspondence and interviews with a multiplicity of people. 
Christie described how she narrowed the biographical scope to prevent writing a tome, given Thorton’s extensive archives. 
Christie discloses her strategy for balancing Thorton’s professional, personal and inner lives. 
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Laurie Gwen Shapiro: The Stowaway. A Young Man’s Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Laurie Gwen Shapiro chats with Gabriella about the choices she made while writing The Stowaway: A Young Man’s Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica, the true story of Billy Gawronski, a New York teenager who stowed away on a ship bound for Antarctica in 1928.
Laurie Gwen Shapiro shares with us her inspiration for writing The Stowaway.
Laurie reveals in vivid detail, Billy Gawronski’s determination, after three failed attempts, to travel on the first American expedition to Antarctica since 1840. 
She also explains why she opened The Stowaway with Billy’s plunge into the icy Hudson River in the wee small hours. 
Laurie tells us how she portrayed the historical context of Billy’s expedition at a pivotal moment in history. 
She also outlines her research strategy, including an incredible surprise that profoundly shaped the story. 
As a writing teacher, Laurie articulates, in extraordinary depth, tips and tricks for crafting a captivating life story.
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Melanie Nolan: The ADB’s Story

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Gabriella chats with Melanie Nolan about her book, The ADB’s Story, the history of the Australian Dictionary of Biography she co-edited with Christine Fernon. Melanie is the general editor of ADB, which is widely recognised as an Australian cultural institution and national treasure. She is also Director of Australia’s National Centre of Biography.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Melanie Nolan introduces us to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, a vibrant and versatile digital tool that enables us to understand our nation’s past and to think hard about the present moment and our future as an inclusive nation that celebrates diversity.
Melanie reveals why she felt compelled to write The ADB’s Story and why it was vital to create it while the ADB team was imagining the next phase of the dictionary’s future.
Melanie explains why ADB is considered internationally as innovative compared with similar publications in other countries.
Melanie shares her vision for the dictionary, which is to showcase the multisensory experiences of Australians at different stages of their life through photographs, audio and video recordings. 
She also reveals ADB’s ambitions to reimagine itself over future decades by tracing networks and connections between biographical subjects and how these revelations will enable each of us to better understand our past, present and future.
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Melinda M. Ponder. Katharine Lee Bates: From Sea to Shining Sea

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Melinda Ponder shares with Gabriella her choices while writing the biography of the 19th century American poet, writer, teacher and social activist, Katherine Lee Bates.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Why Melinda Ponder chose the title From Sea to Shining Sea
How Melinda represented the historical and cultural context of Katherine Lee Bates’s life, which was 19th century America after the end of the civil war. 
Melinda describes the literary devices she employed to create a captivating narrative 
Melinda also reveals how she balanced  Katherine Lee Bates’s personal story with her activism and accomplishments as a poet and teacher. 
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Judith Brett: The Enigmatic Mr Deakin

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Judith Brett, the acclaimed political historian, chats with Gabriella about the choices she made while writing The Enigmatic Mr Deakin. This biography of Alfred Deakin, Australia’s second Prime Minister, won the 2018 National Biography Award. 
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Judith Brett shares with us why she titled her biography The Enigmatic Mr Deakin. 
Judith explains why she opened The Enigmatic Mr Deakin with a comparison between the notorious outlaw Ned Kelly and our second Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin. 
Judith describes her painstaking research strategy and its complexities. 
She reveals how she achieved a unique synthesis of Deakin’s public life with his beliefs, doubts, private struggles and spiritual wrestling. 
Judith also reveals how she balanced technical details of politics and parliament to craft an engaging narrative for readers who might not have a political background.
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