Brenda Niall has written a number of biographies, including Seven Little Billabongs: The World of Ethel Turner and Mary Grant Bruce (1979), Georgiana: A Biography of Georgiana McCrae, Painter, Diarist, Pioneer (1994), The Boyds: A Family Biography  (2002) and the biography of a 'live' subject, Judy Cassab: A Portrait (2005). Her book, The Riddle of Father Hackett: A Life in Ireland and Australia (2009), which combines memoir with public history, has been shortlisted for the 2010 Magarey Medal for Biography. She has also written the autobiographical Life Class: The Education of a Biographer (2007). Brenda will discuss how she constructs a life, structures a book and teases out the 'things' that sustain a biography.