Beverley Farmer
Encyclopedia
Beverley Anne Farmer (born 7 February 1941) is an Australia
n novelist and short story writer.
Beverley Farmer was born in Melbourne
. She was educated at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School
and the University of Melbourne
where she graduated with a BA in 1960.
She has worked in various jobs, mainly teaching and waitressing. She married a Greek migrant, Christos Talihmanidis, in 1965. They were married for thirteen years, three of which were spent in Greece. They returned to Australia for their son to be born in 1972.
Best known for her novels and short stories, Farmer has also written essays, poetry, reviews and criticism. Her writing has been published in several magazines, journals and newspapers, including Overland
, Westerly, Meanjin
, Island Magazine
, and The Bulletin
.
Loss features as a central theme in Farmer's stories. She has described it as the 'touchstone' of her work. The 'experience of being foreign' is also a favourite subject.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n novelist and short story writer.
Beverley Farmer was born in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. She was educated at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School
Mac.Robertson Girls' High School
The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School is an academically selective, public high school for girls, located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
and the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
where she graduated with a BA in 1960.
She has worked in various jobs, mainly teaching and waitressing. She married a Greek migrant, Christos Talihmanidis, in 1965. They were married for thirteen years, three of which were spent in Greece. They returned to Australia for their son to be born in 1972.
Best known for her novels and short stories, Farmer has also written essays, poetry, reviews and criticism. Her writing has been published in several magazines, journals and newspapers, including Overland
Overland (literary journal)
Overland is an Australian literary and cultural journal. It was founded in 1954, under the auspices of the Realist Writers Group in Melbourne, Australia, with Stephen Murray-Smith being the first editor. The current editor is Jeff Sparrow. The journal has a left-wing orientation.- External links :*...
, Westerly, Meanjin
Meanjin
Meanjin is an Australian literary journal. The name - pronounced Mee-AN-jin - is derived from an Aboriginal word for the land where the city Brisbane is located.It was founded in December 1940, in Brisbane, by Clem Christesen...
, Island Magazine
Island magazine
Island Magazine is a quarterly literary publication "with an environmental heart" that provides a formum for Tasmanian writers and writers from around Australia to publish new work.Island is a not-for-profit incorporated body run by a Board of management....
, and The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
.
Loss features as a central theme in Farmer's stories. She has described it as the 'touchstone' of her work. The 'experience of being foreign' is also a favourite subject.
Awards and nominations
- 1984 - New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction for Milk - 1996 - The House in the Light was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
- 2009 - Patrick White AwardPatrick White AwardThe Patrick White Award is an annual literary prize established by Patrick White. White used his 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature award to establish a trust for this prize....
Short story anthologies
- Milk (1983)
- Home Time (1985)
- Collected Stories (1987)