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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A revelatory portrait of one of the most talented, poised and respected women in Australian politics, written by one of Australia’s foremost biographers.
'Senator Penny Wong is an extraordinary Australian politician. Resolute, self-possessed and a penetrating thinker on subjects from workplace relations to foreign affairs, she is admired by members of parliament and the public from across the political divide.
'In this first-ever biography of Penny Wong, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons traces her story: from her early life in Malaysia, to her student activism in Adelaide, to her entry into the male-dominated chambers of federal parliament, to her leading role as a voice of reason and respect in the polarising campaign to legalise same-sex marriage. What emerges is a picture of a leader for modern Australia, a cool-headed, cautious yet charismatic figure of piercing intelligence and a personal history linking back to Australia’s colonial settlers through to its multicultural present.
'Drawing on exclusive interviews with Penny Wong, and her Labor colleagues, parliamentary opponents, close friends and family, this scintillating portrait of an Australian politician without precedence promises to be one of the most talked-about political biographies of the year.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Dyslexic edition.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
-
Where Are the Great Women? A Feminist Analysis of Australian Political Biographies
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 23-37) 'As women have become more visible in the Australian political sphere, the volume of writing about their lives, careers and experiences has also increased. This has brought to light certain challenges and shortcomings, as well as enduring discursive biases in the existing literature. Political history, for example, and especially political biography, has generally ‘privileged the political activities of men and masculine political institutions’, telling the stories of so-called Great Men while excluding those who do not traditionally belong to this cohort. Any attempt to summarise the current state of biographies written on Australian political women and to assess the extent to which these can be improved must therefore address several overlapping lines of inquiry, the four most fundamental of which have been chosen for discussion in this article. First, I will provide an overview of the institutional and discursive masculine biases of political biographies in general. Second, I will outline the state of biographies written on women politicians, noting the lack of such texts and an increasing turn towards autobiography. Third, I compare two recent biographies on women politicians—Anna Broinowski’s Please Explain (2017) and Margaret Simons’s Penny Wong (2019)—to demonstrate how a tendency towards excessive personalisation can become problematic. Lastly, by exploring feminist approaches to political biography, I provide a working definition of feminist political biography and propose a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for those political biographers who seek to develop a more inclusive model.' (Introduction) -
Being in the Room
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 417 2019; (p. 16-17)
— Review of Penny Wong : Passion and Principle 2019 single work biography 'Every biographer has a relationship with their subject, even if they have passed away. A real advantage for biographers of the dead is that the subject cannot say what they think about the book. The relationship between Margaret Simons and Penny Wong was fraught. That this mattered is evident from the opening sentence: ‘Penny Wong did not want this book to be written.’ Simons, a journalist, biographer, and associate professor at Monash University, uses her preface to complain about how difficult it was researching the book without Wong’s assistance and against her will. Finally, well into Simons’s writing, she was invited to Senator Wong’s office, where Wong gave her ‘a hard time’. The relationship thawed and Simons was able to conduct six interviews. Readers will be glad that Wong overcame her resistance to this intrusion into her life: the stories in Wong’s voice and her personal memories are rich elements of the book. Yet there are recurrent reminders of Simons’s tense relationship with her subject.' (Introduction) -
Progress of an Aussie Battler
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 October 2019; (p. 21)
— Review of Penny Wong : Passion and Principle 2019 single work biography'How does a researcher write a biography when the subject doesn’t want to participate in the process, let alone see the book published? Margaret Simons is an award-winning journalist of 13 books, including an acclaimed biography of Malcolm Fraser, but even she had to exercise extreme diplomacy and patience when negotiating with the intensely private and guarded Penny Wong.' (Introduction)
-
Progress of an Aussie Battler
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 October 2019; (p. 21)
— Review of Penny Wong : Passion and Principle 2019 single work biography'How does a researcher write a biography when the subject doesn’t want to participate in the process, let alone see the book published? Margaret Simons is an award-winning journalist of 13 books, including an acclaimed biography of Malcolm Fraser, but even she had to exercise extreme diplomacy and patience when negotiating with the intensely private and guarded Penny Wong.' (Introduction)
-
Being in the Room
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 417 2019; (p. 16-17)
— Review of Penny Wong : Passion and Principle 2019 single work biography 'Every biographer has a relationship with their subject, even if they have passed away. A real advantage for biographers of the dead is that the subject cannot say what they think about the book. The relationship between Margaret Simons and Penny Wong was fraught. That this mattered is evident from the opening sentence: ‘Penny Wong did not want this book to be written.’ Simons, a journalist, biographer, and associate professor at Monash University, uses her preface to complain about how difficult it was researching the book without Wong’s assistance and against her will. Finally, well into Simons’s writing, she was invited to Senator Wong’s office, where Wong gave her ‘a hard time’. The relationship thawed and Simons was able to conduct six interviews. Readers will be glad that Wong overcame her resistance to this intrusion into her life: the stories in Wong’s voice and her personal memories are rich elements of the book. Yet there are recurrent reminders of Simons’s tense relationship with her subject.' (Introduction) -
Where Are the Great Women? A Feminist Analysis of Australian Political Biographies
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 23-37) 'As women have become more visible in the Australian political sphere, the volume of writing about their lives, careers and experiences has also increased. This has brought to light certain challenges and shortcomings, as well as enduring discursive biases in the existing literature. Political history, for example, and especially political biography, has generally ‘privileged the political activities of men and masculine political institutions’, telling the stories of so-called Great Men while excluding those who do not traditionally belong to this cohort. Any attempt to summarise the current state of biographies written on Australian political women and to assess the extent to which these can be improved must therefore address several overlapping lines of inquiry, the four most fundamental of which have been chosen for discussion in this article. First, I will provide an overview of the institutional and discursive masculine biases of political biographies in general. Second, I will outline the state of biographies written on women politicians, noting the lack of such texts and an increasing turn towards autobiography. Third, I compare two recent biographies on women politicians—Anna Broinowski’s Please Explain (2017) and Margaret Simons’s Penny Wong (2019)—to demonstrate how a tendency towards excessive personalisation can become problematic. Lastly, by exploring feminist approaches to political biography, I provide a working definition of feminist political biography and propose a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for those political biographers who seek to develop a more inclusive model.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2021 shortlisted National Biography Award
- 2020 longlisted Walkley Award — Best Non-Fiction Book
- 2020 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian Biography of the Year
