AustLit

'The name Zora Cross was destined to become a household one, said publisher George Robertson in 1918. One hundred years on, the first Cross biography has now been published, a debut for Cathy Perkins, an editor at the State Library of New South Wales. For this, Perkins deserves a toast. Cross was a hugely significant literary figure in the Australian interwar period whose life story demonstrates, among other things, that intellectual, creative women of this period could not exhibit the same eccentricity and impracticality routinely shown by their male counterparts.' (Introduction)

'In recent years Australian historians have begun to show the ways in which Australia’s black history has simultaneously been concealed and disclosed over a long period of time. This article focuses on one such example of this phenomenon – a 1937 fictionalised family history by the Western Australian writer Henrietta Drake-Brockman – and seeks to uncover the unusual set of biographical, historical, intellectual and generic factors that spurred her to raise questions about this black history rather than look the other way. At the same time, we examine the ways in which Drake-Brockman herself turned a blind eye to the Drake-Brockmans’ entanglement with another racial history.' (Publication abstract)

l'Judith Wright (1915–2000) remains a giant figure within Australian art, culture and politics. Her 1946 collection of poetry, The Moving Image, revolutionised Australian poetry. She helped to establish the modern Australian environmental movement and was a key player in early campaigns for Aboriginal land rights. A friend and confidante of artists, writers, scholars, activists and policy makers – she remains an inspiration to many. And yet, as Georgina Arnott is able to show in this major new work, the biographical picture we have had of this renowned poet-activist has been very much a partial one.

'This book presents a more human figure than we have previously seen, and concentrates on Wright’s younger years. New material allows us to hear, directly, thrillingly, the feisty voice of a young Judith Wright and forces us to reconsider the woman we thought we knew.' (Publication summary)