Barbara Hanrahan Printmaker

'It is a struggle ... to be me,' wrote Barbara Hanrahan, '... to accept ME, and my spiritual purpose.' This authoritative biography illuminates the life of a great Australian writer and artist. The story starts with Barbara Hanrahan's childhood in Adelaide, travels with her to 'swinging London' of the 1960s, and recounts her remarkable achievements in Britain and Australia in the following decades. Like the artists she most admired - among them, William Blake, Frida Kahlo and D.H. Lawrence - Barbara Hanrahan dedicated herself uncompromisingly to the life of the mind and spirit, producing a body of work that remains challenging and rewarding. Annette Stewart has drawn on a wealth of unpublished material, including the artist's letters, photographs, prints and diaries, as well as interviews with her friends and her partner, the sculptor Jo Steele. Barbara Hanrahan is beautifully illustrated with a number of Hanrahan's artworks, some of which have not been published before, and many photographs from her life.

Reprint of the highly acclaimed author's first novel, originally published in 1973. Fact and fantasy are combined to produce a poignant portrayal of growing up in Adelaide suburbia. The author wrote 13 novels, including TMichael and Me and the Sun', published posthumously in 1992.

Writer and artist Barbara Hanrahan kept diaries from her late teens to her untimely death at the age of fifty-two. They chronicle her turbulent personal development and her passionate engagement with literature and art.

The papers have been arranged into the following series: 1. Correspondence, 1972-1991: correspondents include her publisher (Chatto & Windus), Murray Pollinger, Craig Munro, Tim Curnow, Geoffrey Dutton, Merril Yule, Leslie Anderson, Verity Laughton and Dale Spencer. 2. Writings, 1974-1992: includes notes, drafts and proofs for her books Sea green, The albatross muff, Where the queens strayed, The peach groves, The frangipani gardens, Dove, Kewpie doll, Annie Magda, Dream people, A Chelsea girl, Flawless jade, Iris in her garden, Good night Mr Moon and Michael and me and the sun. 3. Unpublished writings: miscellaneous drafts and notes. 4. Book reviews, 1973-1992: newspaper cutting of reviews of Hanrahan's writing and those of other writers. 5. Diaries and notebooks, 1958-1991: diaries, poetry book, book of dreams and book of quotations.