Susan Lever

Jan 14, 2025 | insidestory.org.au | Helen Garner |Susan Lever

“When I die, will you wear a black armband?” Helen Garner asks her footballer grandson. “Yes,” he replies, unselfconsciously declaring both his love and his acceptance that she will die. They are watching a first-grade AFL game on TV and a player is wearing two black armbands. Garner surmises that two of his grandparents have died.

May 15, 2024 | insidestory.org.au | Susan Lever

In her expansive biography of the New York–based Shirley Hazzard, published two years ago, Brigitta Olubas revealed that the writer corresponded for many years with the Sydney novelist Elizabeth Harrower. Harrower had never met Hazzard when they began writing to each other, but she had become friendly with Kit Hazzard, her difficult mother, in the 1960s and gradually found herself taking responsibility for her care in Sydney while Shirley stayed on in New York and Europe.

Mar 27, 2024 | insidestory.org.au | Susan Lever

The publication of Anna Funder’s Wifedom late last year has drawn attention to the role of wives in the creation of their husband’s art, not only in providing domestic support but by contributing ideas and editorial advice. Funder argued for the importance of George Orwell’s wife Eileen O’Shaughnessy, often overlooked by his biographers, in the creation of his best novels.

Jan 3, 2024 | insidestory.org.au | Matthew Lamb |Susan Lever

It’s only a few months since I recommended Catharine Lumby’s lively biography of Frank Moorhouse to readers of Inside Story. Her Frank Moorhouse: A Life is a warm tribute to its subject as a social force, with photographs and an index for those eager to check out mutual contacts, though it gives little attention to Moorhouse’s fiction. While Lumby was working on her book Matthew Lamb was embarked on something different and quite unusual: a two-volume cultural history of Moorhouse.

Sep 3, 2023 | smh.com.au | Susan Lever

She was appointed to the chair of Australian Literature in 1990 and brought her own practical approach to the role, not only guiding the teaching and research of Australian literature at Sydney, but also working to build a network of scholars beyond her university.