Creative Lives: Personal Papers of Australian Writers and Artists
Penelope Hanley delves into the papers of 22 well-known Australian literary and artistic figures and gives us an insight into their creative lives—their feelings and foibles, their fears and triumphs. These writers’ and artists’ papers are held at the National Library of Australia and contain the stories told in Creative Lives—stories about convict James Tucker’s gruesome floggings; Henry Lawson’s sporadic imprisonment and alcoholism; Judy Cassab’s outwitting of the Nazis; the shock discovery that Patrick White had not destroyed his papers, despite his insistence to the contrary; and the attempted legal action against Thomas Keneally for plagiarism. Author Penelope Hanley has been a film critic, book reviewer, researcher, editor, and teacher of English literature and creative writing. She has published 10 short stories and a novel.

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The Australian Literature
Society medal for best
Australian novel 1929
awarded
to Henry Handel
Richardson
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Patrick White's briefcase,
glasses
and a manuscript
draft of his
autobiography
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Xavier Herbert and Arthur
Sibley, Cairns 1948
