Creative Lives: Personal papers of Australian writers and artists

Penelope Hanley delves into the papers of 22 well-known Australian literary and artistic figures and gives us an insight into their creative lives—their feelings and foibles, their fears and triumphs. These writers’ and artists’ papers are held at the National Library of Australia and contain the stories told in Creative Lives—stories about convict James Tucker’s gruesome floggings; Henry Lawson’s sporadic imprisonment and alcoholism; Judy Cassab’s outwitting of the Nazis; the shock discovery that Patrick White had not destroyed his papers, despite his insistence to the contrary; and the attempted sueing of Thomas Keneally for plagiarism. Creative Lives is generously illustrated with personal photographs, sketches and paintings, diaries and drafts, and cards and letters—neatly typed or scrawled and claret-stained.