In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Cathy Perkins chats with Gabriella about the choices she made while writing The Shelf Life of Zora Cross, her biography of Zora Cross, a prolific writer who caused a literary sensation in 1917 with her provocative series of erotic sonnets that celebrated sexual passion. The Shelf Life of Zora Cross was shortlisted in the 2020 NSW Premier’s History Awards and highly commended in the 2021 National Biography Awards. This second edition of the acclaimed biography includes a foreword by Bernadette Brennan, winner of the National Biography Award in 2022.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• You’ll meet Zora Cross.
• The meaning of the book’s title: The Shelf Life of Zora Cross.
• Why Cathy opens the book with a scene of a young girl sitting and writing on her family’s verandah.
• Why Cathy includes excerpts from Zora’s constant stream of stories published in the ‘Children’s Corner’ of the Australian Town and Country Journal.
• Why Cathy quotes from so many of Zora’s 340 lengthy letters to the Sydney publisher George Robertson.
• Why Cathy shapes the narrative with a series of self-contained chapters, each of them centered on Zora’s relationship with a literary luminary.
• The novelistic devices Cathy employed to craft lyrical narrative.
• The extent to which Cathy believes she captures the truth of her subject
• Cathy’s thoughts on the role of a biographer.

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In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Gabriella chats with veteran biographer Carl Rollyson about his two-volume biography of William Faulkner, a giant of 20th century literature who won the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes: The Life of William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead and The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox. Carl also published William Faulkner Day by Day, which provides a unique insight into the minute of Faulkner’s daily life and relationships.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• The meaning of The Past Is Never Dead and This Alarming Paradox.
• Why Carl chose to end The Past Is Never Dead in 1934.
• How Carl oriented Faulkner within the historical, social and cultural context of his time.
• How Carl crafted a portrait of the whole human being by balancing Faulkner’s public, professional and personal lives with literary criticism.
• How Carl reconciled the contradictory aspects of Faulkner’s behaviour.
• Why Carl crafted William Faulkner Day by Day and why he wrote the narrative in present tense.
• Why Carl argues that Faulkner deserves to be reread as a literary figure and a still-relevant force, especially in relation to issues of race, sexuality and equality.
• Carl’s views on the role of a biographer.

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In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Gabriella chats with Sarah George, who wrote GAMU: The Dreamtime Stories, Life and Feelings of Big Bill Neidjie. Known as Kakadu Man, Aboriginal elder Big Bill was instrumental in the establishment of the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park and he was deeply committed to preserving his land, culture and mother tongue.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• You’ll meet Indigenous elder Big Bill Neidjie
• The role of Dreamtime stories in Aboriginal spirituality and culture
• Why Big Bill wanted Dreamtime stories recorded and shared for future generations of Indigenous people.
• Why it is crucial for non-Indigenous people to understand the cultural and spiritual significance of Dreamtime stories.
• The meaning of the Indigenous word GAMU and why Big Bill chose this title for his book.
• Why Sarah structured GAMU around 240 photographically illustrated pages of Big Bill’s Dreamtime stories, personal history, and his thoughts and feelings regarding problems faced by Aboriginal communities.

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