Drusilla Modjeska
| Drusilla Modjeska | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 October 1946 London |
| Occupation | Writer and editor |
Drusilla Modjeska (born 17 October 1946) is a contemporary Australian writer and editor.
Life
Drusilla Modjeska was born in London and was raised in Hampshire. She spent several years in Papua New Guinea (where she was briefly a student at the University of Papua New Guinea) before arriving in Australia in 1971.[1] She studied for an undergraduate degree at the Australian National University before completing a PhD in history at the University of New South Wales which was published as Exiles at Home: Australian Women Writers 1925–1945 (1981).
Modjeska's writing often explores the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. The best known of her work are Poppy (1990), a fictionalised biography of her mother, and Stravinsky's Lunch (2001), a feminist reappraisal of the lives and work of Australian painters Stella Bowen and Grace Cossington Smith. She has also edited several volumes of stories, poems and essays, including the work of Lesbia Harford and a 'Focus on Papua New Guinea' issue for the literary magazine Meanjin.[2]
In 2006 Modjeska was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, "investigating the interplay of race, gender and the arts in post-colonial Papua New Guinea".[3] She has also taught at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Awards
- 1983 – Walter McRae Russell Award for Exiles at Home[4]
- 1991 – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction for Poppy
- 1995 – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction for The Orchard
- 2000 – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction for Stravinsky's Lunch
- 2000 – Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for Stravinsky's Lunch
Bibliography
Novels
- Poppy. (1990) ISBN 0-86914-099-X
- The Orchard. (1994) ISBN 0-330-35655-0 Review
- The Mountain (2012)
Non-fiction
- Women Writers: A study in Australian cultural history, 1920–1939. (1979)
- Exiles at Home: Australian women writers 1925–1945. (1981)
- Inner Cities: Australian women's memory of place. (1989)
- Stravinsky's Lunch. (Picador, 2001) ISBN 0-330-36186-4
- Timepieces. (Picador, 2002) ISBN 0-330-36372-7 ReviewSMH Review 2002
- The Green in Glass: The work of Janet Laurence. (Sydney: Pesaro, 2005)
Edited
- The Poems of Lesbia Harford. (1985)
- Sisters. (Angus & Robertson, 1995) ISBN 0-207-19032-1
- The best Australian essays. (Black Inc. 2006) ISBN 1-86395-278-0
Book reviews
- Modjeska, Drusilla (March 2009). "Arise!". The Monthly. 43: 60–62. Review of Philip Roth, Indignation.
References
- ↑ "My Story". Drusilla Modjeska. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
- ↑ "Meanjin Back Issue". Meanjin. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ↑ "Research Fellows". University of Sydney. 29 March 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ↑ "Walter McRae Russell Award for the best work of literary scholarship". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
External links
- Our Future Thinkers Essay from The Monthly
- Re-storying the self by Lekkie Hopkins