Seven Writers. (1980-1998)

Function
Writers Group
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-752067

Biographies

Seven Writers was a group of Canberra-based women writers who met regularly to debate and critique one another’s work. This entry is sponsored by generous donation from Christine Foley.

Beginning with three members in 1980, the group grew to include seven female Canberra-based writers by 1984. They were founding member Dorothy Johnston (1948- ), Margaret Barbalet (1949- ), Sara Dowse (1938- ), Suzanne Edgar (1939- ), Marian Eldridge (1936-1997), Marion Halligan (1940- ) and Dorothy Horsfield (1948- ).

Members’ published works include short stories, novels, children’s literature, non-fiction, articles and reviews, and in diverse ways their writing vividly portrays life ‘beneath the surface of Canberra’.

Collectively the group authored Canberra Tales in 1988, later republished as The Division of Love in 1996, an anthology of short stories about life in Canberra. This was considered a landmark publication for Canberra fiction and received an ACT Bicentennial Award.

Seven Writers raised the profile of Canberra-based authors, and in 1995 a photographic portrait of the group appeared in the National Library of Australia exhibition, Beyond the Picket Fence.

After the death of Marian Eldridge in 1997, the group did not meet again for one year. Sara Dowse relocated to Canada in 1998. The remaining members are still friends but no longer meet formally to critique one another’s work.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Seven Writers.

Selected resources (40)

Australian Women's Register

  1. The Division of Love: Stories
    Barbalet, Margaret et al
    [1995]
    Published: Penguin
  2. Dream Run
    Horsfield, Dorothy
    [1992]
    Published: Minerva Australia
  3. The Presence of Angels
    Barbalet, Margaret
    [2001]
    Published: Penguin
  4. Lady, Baby, Gypsy, Queen
    Barbalet, Margaret
    [1992]
    Published: Penguin
  5. Steel Beach
    Barbalet, Margaret
    [1988]
    Published: Penguin
  6. Far from a Low Gutter Girl: the forgotten world of state wards, South Australia, 1887-1940
    Barbalet, Margaret
    [1983]
    Published: Oxford University Press
  7. Blood in the Rain
    Barbalet, Margaret
    [1986]
    Published: Penguin
  8. Maralinga, my love
    Johnston, Dorothy
    [1988]
    Published: McPhee Gribble/Penguin
  9. Venom
    Horsfield, Dorothy
    [2005]
    Published: Pandanus Books
  10. One for the Master
    Johnston, Dorothy
    [1997]
    Published: Wakefield Press
  11. The Fog Garden: A Novel
    Halligan, Marion
    [2001]
    Published: Allen & Unwin
  12. Counting Backwards and other stories
    Edgar, Suzanne
    [1991]
    Published: University of Queensland Press
  13. West Block: the hidden world of Canberra's mandarins
    Dowse, Sara
    [1983]
    Published: Penguin
  14. Silver City
    Dowse, Sara
    [1984]
    Published: Penguin
  15. Schemetime
    Dowse, Sara
    [1990]
    Published: Penguin
  16. Sapphires
    Dowse, Sara
    [1994]
    Published: Penguin
  17. Digging
    Dowse, Sara
    [1996]
    Published: Penguin
  18. The House at Number 10
    Johnston, Dorothy
    [2005]
    Published: Wakefield Press
  19. The Golden Dress
    Halligan, Marion
    [1998]
    Published: Viking
  20. Wishbone
    Halligan, Marion
    [1995]
    Published: Minerva Australia
  21. The Taste of Memory
    Halligan, Marion
    [2004]
    Published: Allen & Unwin
  22. Spidercup
    Halligan, Marion
    [1990]
    Published: Penguin
  23. Self Possession
    Halligan, Marion
    [1987]
    Published: University of Queensland Press
  24. Out of the Picture
    Halligan, Marion
    [1996]
    Published: National Library of Australia
  25. Lovers' Knots: a hundred-year novel
    Halligan, Marion
    [1993]
    Published: Mandarin
  26. Springfield
    Eldridge, Marian
    [1992]
    Published: University of Queensland Press
  27. The Hanged Man in the Garden
    Halligan, Marion
    [1989]
    Published: Penguin
  28. The Worry Box
    Halligan, Marion
    [1993]
    Published: Minerva Australia
  29. Eat My Words
    Halligan, Marion
    [1990]
    Published: Angus & Robertson
  30. Collected Stories
    Halligan, Marion
    [1997]
    Published: University of Queensland Press
  31. Cockles of the Heart
    Halligan, Marion
    [1996]
    Published: Minerva Australia
  32. The Apricot Colonel
    Halligan, Marion
    [2006]
    Published: Allen & Unwin
  33. Tunnel Vision
    Johnston, Dorothy
    [1984]
    Published: Hale & Iremonger
  34. The Trojan Dog
    Johnston, Dorothy
    [2000]
    Published: Wakefield Press
  35. Ruth
    Johnston, Dorothy
    [1986]
    Published: Hale & Iremonger
  36. The Living Hothouse
    Halligan, Marion
    [1988]
    Published: University of Queensland Press
  37. National Library of Australia: Maralinga cycle, 1988 (1988)
    Clean typescript of the novel "Maralinga cycle," later published as "Maralinga, my love" by McPhee Gribble/Penguin.
    MS 8194
  38. National Library of Australia: Papers of Marion Halligan, 1981-1993 (1981 - 1993)
    The collection comprises papers relating to Halligan's prolific career as an author. There are drafts of her books, short stories and reviews and papers relating to her participation in numerous literary events. There is a large series of correspondence, the bulk of which is business related.
    MS 8460
  39. National Library of Australia: Papers of Margaret Barbalet, 1974-1993 (1974 - 1993)
    Correspondence, manuscripts and typescripts, research material, corrected proofs, photographs.
    NLA MS 5396
  40. National Library of Australia: Papers of Marian Eldridge, 1954-1996
    The collection comprises personal correspondence, financial papers, correspondence concerning the writing and publication of her various works, handwritten drafts, typescripts, copy-edit and page proofs, notes and research material, and book reviews.
    MS 9227

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