AustLit

'My father, Alex Carey, a fourth-generation Australian, was a lefty and an activist, who worked long hours as a university lecturer. But despite - or perhaps because of - being a largely absent father, he was my childhood hero. I marched with him in peace protests and listened to him address anti-war rallies; I wore a Troops Out badge to Sutherland North Primary School and showed photos of napalmed Vietnamese peasants to friends whose older brothers had been conscripted. Like my father, I exerted little influence.' (Publication abstract)