ANU.Lives Series in Biography

In response to the current popularity of biography, the ANU.Lives Series in Biography was established by the National Centre of Biography in 2008. It aims to publish lively, engaging and provocative biographies and memoirs and nurture best practice in biographical scholarship. Books published in the series will engage critically with issues and problems in historiography and life writing. 

The books will be published online by ANU Press and will also be available in hardcopy.

Editorial committee

  • Professor Melanie Nolan (chair), Director, National Centre of Biography
  • Dr Malcolm Allbrook, Managing Editor, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Research Fellow, National Centre of Biography
  • Dr Patrick Mullins, Canberra-based writer, Visiting Fellow, National Centre of Biography
  • Professor Melanie Oppenheimer, Emeritus Prof, University of Flinders; Honorary Professor, School of History, ANU
  • Dr Stephen Wilks, National Centre of Biography


Submitting a manuscript

Authors wishing to submit a manuscript for consideration by ANU.Lives should first contact Professor Melanie Nolan at melanie.nolan@anu.edu.au.

People and Place

People and Place

Author/editor: Richardson, L.

Year published: 2020

People and Place traces the enduring relationship between history, people and place that has shaped the character of a single region in a manner perhaps unique within the New Zealand experience. It explores the evolution of a distinctive regional literature that both shaped and was shaped by the...

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A Bridge Between

A Bridge Between

Author/editor: Massam, K.

Year published: 2020

A Bridge Between is the first account of the Benedictine women who worked at New Norcia and the first book-length exploration of twentieth-century life in the Western Australian mission town. From the founding of a grand school intended for ‘nativas’, through links to Mexico and Paraguay then...

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'True Biographies of Nations?'

‘True Biographies of Nations?’

Author/editor: Fox, K.

Year published: 2019

'True Biographies of Nations?': The Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography brings together practitioners from around the English‑speaking world to reflect on national biographical dictionary projects’ recent cultural journeys, and the challenges presented to them by such...

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Clio's Lives

Clio's Lives: Biographies and Autobiographies of Historians

Author/editor: Doug Munro and John G. Reid (eds)

Year published: 2017

Including contributions from leading scholars in the field from both Australia and North America, this collection explores diverse approaches to writing the lives of historians and ways of assessing the importance of doing so.

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The Histories of Raphael Samuel

The Histories of Raphael Samuel: A Portrait of a People's Historian

Author/editor: Sophie Scott-Brown

Year published: 2017

This book situates British historian Raphael Samuel (1934–1996) in relation to his distinctive form of activist politics as they developed from youthful Cold War communism to the first British New Left, 1960s radicalism to the 1980s history wars.

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Family Experiments

Family Experiments: Middle-class, professional families in Australia and New Zealand c. 1880–1920

Author/editor: Shelley Richardson

Year published: 2016

Family Experiments explores the forms and undertakings of ‘family’ that prevailed among British professionals who migrated to Australia and New Zealand in the late nineteenth century. Their attempts to establish and define ‘family’ in Australasian, suburban environments reveal how the Victorian...

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Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins

The Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins: Australian Government Administration in the Post-War Reconstruction Era

Author/editor: Samuel Furphy (ed)

Year published: 2015

This book looks at the powerful group of talented (but short) university graduates who entered the public service, rose to senior levels, and exerted great influence over the affairs of the Commonwealth in the postwar years. With the secure tenure of being permanent heads of departments, they...

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Pages

Updated:  2 November 2017/Responsible Officer:  Head of School/Page Contact:  CASS Marketing & Communications