Due to building works, some of our collections are temporarily unavailable. Some requests for deliveries of Library material to the Reading Rooms will not be fulfilled. Learn more
The Ray Mathew Lecture was established in 2009 as a major annual event for the National Library of Australia. It is named in honour of the Australian poet and playwright, Ray Mathew (1929–2002), who left Australia in the late 1960s, never to return. Mathew spent most of the remainder of his life living in the New York apartment of his patrons, Eva and Paul Kollsman. The Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust is a generous bequest, made to the Library by Eva Kollsman, to support and promote Australian writing.
2017
A Paradox of Empowerment
Presented by Kim Scott on 21 September 2017
2016
Enter the Playwright: Pulling Drama From an Archive Box
Presented by Alana Valentine on 14 July 2016
2015
Private Passions, Public Exposure: The Creative Imagination in the Digital Age
Presented by Andrea Goldsmith on 14 May 2015
2014
Gutenburg Fights On:A Survival Story
Presented by Thomas Keneally on 4 September 2014
2013
Two Exiles
Presented by Peter Robb on 13 June 2013
2011
Prodigal Daughter
Presented by Susan Johnson on 23 August 2011
2010
Everywhere and Nowhere
Presented by Kate Jennings on 29 June 2010
2009
The Opportunity of Distance
Presented by Geraldine Brooks on 22 October 2009