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Helen Garner (b. 1942), writer, was a secondary school teacher before the publication of her first novel, the semi –autobiographical Monkey Grip (1977). Winner of a National Book Council Award, it was made into an outstanding feature film released in 1982. Honour and Other People’s Children (1980), Postcards from Surfers (1985), The Children’s Bach (1984), Cosmo Cosmolino (1992) and The Feel of Steel (2001) followed. Garner’s fiction has strong moral themes, and since the 1990s she has pursued a variety of profound ethical questions in journal articles and non–fiction books. In 1995 The First Stone, exploring claims of sexual harassment at a Melbourne University college, caused a national sensation. Two years later True Stories, a collection of her non–fiction pieces, won the Nita B Kibble Award for women’s life writing. Her rumination on the murder of a Canberra student, Joe Cinque’s Consolation, was published in 2004. Since 2005 Garner has written occasional pieces for The Monthly, sometimes delightedly describing her life with her grandchildren. Her recent books include The Spare Room (2008), This House of Grief: The story of a murder trial (2014) and the collection Everywhere I Look (2016).
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006
© Julian Kingma
Julian Kingma (6 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Dr Sarah Engledow explores the portraits of writers held in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.
The story behind the creation of the portrait of Helen Garner by Jenny Sages.