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Helen Daniel Helen Daniel i(A23869 works by) (a.k.a. Helen E. Daniel; Helen Edith Daniel)
Born: Established: 6 Jul 1946 Woodend, Gisborne - Woodend area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria, ; Died: Ceased: 2000 Melbourne, Victoria,
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

After completing her secondary education at Camberwell High School, Helen Daniel enrolled in a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Melbourne. She taught for ten years in Victorian secondary schools before returning to the University of Melbourne to complete a PhD on Australian fiction.

After driving a taxi to support her studies, she began to write reviews for the Melbourne Age in the early 1980s, a working relationship that she maintained for the rest of her life. In 1982, she published her first book of criticism, Double Agent; David Ireland and His Work. In the 1980s Daniel ran a second-hand bookshop at the rear of her partner's furniture shop and began to work on her first significant book of literary criticism, Liars (1989). She followed this with several anthologies - Expressway (1989) and Millennium (1991) - for which she commissioned work from many high-profile Australian writers; and the kaleidoscopic collection of criticism, The Good Reading Guide (1989).

Daniel entered the most public phase of her career when she was appointed editor of the Australian Book Review in November 1994. For the next six years, she envigorated the ABR by encouraging debate and commissioning reviewers who held a variety of ideological positions. Furthermore, she organised competitions for reviewers and creative writers and participated in many literary festivals. Not afraid of controversy, Daniel was a vocal critic of the Miles Franklin Award during the Demidenko affair, and she publicly objected to the large-scale funding of The Australian's Review of Books when other magazines were struggling.

Following the death of her partner in 1996, Daniel deflected much of her emotional energy to the ABR and other projects. She died suddenly in October 2000.

Most Referenced Works

Last amended 13 Nov 2013 15:19:23
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