Biography Workshop
School/Centre
Contacts
The Biography Workshop was established by the National Centre of Biography in response to requests by practitioners, students and readers of biography for a forum to discuss a range of methodological issues relating to biography. The group considers recent and long-standing questions about biography.
From early March to late November 2023 we are offering ten events, covering topics as diverse as Australian women in science, the celebrated novelist Ruth Park, biographical microhistories exploring fin de siècle Australia 1890-1914, and much else. Each workshop will be conducted by an esteemed scholar.
The format is similar to that used in previous years, RSSS building, 146 Ellery Cres, ANU campus, specific room for each workshop to be advised. Timing is 11:00 am to 12.30 pm.
For any inquiries contact Dr Stephen Wilks, stephen.wilks@anu.edu.au, 02 6125 2349.
Workshops 2023
2 March – Ebony Nilsson: Vladimir Mischenko (a.k.a. Bill Marshall): Russian émigré and spy for ASIO
30 March – Catherine Bishop: ‘A Worthwhile Trace of Myself’: Autobiographical essays of World Youth Forum delegates 1947-1972
27 April – Jane Carey: Recovering and situating life stories in Taking to the Field: A History of Australian Women in Science
25 May – Rachel Franks: An Uncommon Hangman: The Life and Deaths of Robert ‘Nosey Bob’ Howard in the justice system of late colonial New South Wales
29 June – Stephen A. Chavura: The Forgotten Menzies: The World Picture of Australia’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister
27 July – Monique Rooney: A Window of Life: Ruth Park, a Biography
24 August – Alison Bashford: The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution, on how four generations of this family helped shape modern science and culture
28 September – Mark Hearn: The Fin de Siècle Imagination in Australia, 1890-1914, using biographical microhistories to explore this era
26 October – Katherine Sanders: F.O.V. Acheson, judge of the New Zealand Native Land Court 1919-43
30 November – Kevin Windle: Alexander Zuzenko, the Communist International and the Workers’ Republic of Australia
Past events
Kevin Windle: Alexander Zuzenko, the Communist International and the Workers’ Republic of Australia
30 Nov 2023
Alexander Zuzenko, a sailor and veteran of the 1905 Russian revolution, arrived in Australia in 1911 and embarked upon a career of industrial and political...Alexander Zuzenko, the Communist International and the Workers’ Republic of Australia
30 Nov 2023
Abstract TBA about a week prior to the seminar.Katherine Sanders: F.O.V. Acheson, Judge of New Zealand’s Native Land Court 1919-43
26 Oct 2023
F.O.V. Acheson, Judge of New Zealand’s Native Land Court 1919-43: Innovative Legal Judgments on Native Title and the Treaty of Waitangi F.O.V. Acheson, a...Philip Payton - D.H. Lawrence and Cornwall: In Search of Utopia
28 Sep 2023
This talk is based on my forthcoming biographical study D.H. Lawrence and Cornwall: In Search of Utopia, to be published shortly by University of Exeter Press...The Fin de Siècle Imagination in Australia, 1890-1914, using biographical microhistories to explore this era
28 Sep 2023
Abstract TBA about a week prior to the seminar.Alison Bashford: Writing a Family History of Evolution
24 Aug 2023
An Intimate History of Evolution (Allen Lane, 2022) is a history of evolutionary ideas told through one family, the Huxleys. It is, at core, a double biography...A Window of Life: Ruth Park, a Biography
27 Jul 2023
Abstract TBA about a week prior to the seminar.Monique Rooney - “Inky Comradeship:” Writing, Mutual Help and the Marriage of Ruth Park and D’Arcy Niland
27 Jul 2023
**PLEASE NOTE: THE WORKSHOP IS BEGINNING HALF AN HOUR EARLIER (10.30am AND ENDING AT NOON) DUE TO ANU INDUSTRIAL ACTION** In a 1939 letter addressed to...The Forgotten Menzies: The World Picture of Australia’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister
29 Jun 2023
Abstract TBA about a week prior to the seminar.Stephen Chavura: The Forgotten Menzies
29 Jun 2023
Stephen Chavaura: The Forgotten Menzies: The World Picture of Australia’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies was Australia's longest-serving...
