Jeff Sparrow is an Australian leftwing writer, editor and former socialist activist based 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...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. He is the co-author of Radical Melbourne: A Secret History and Radical Melbourne 2: The Enemy Within (both with sister, Jill Sparrow

Jill Sparrow

Jill Sparrow , has been active as a socialist in Melbourne since 1991. She helped organise protests against the Gulf War and was involved in free education campaigns throughout the early 1990s, as well as participating in nearly every left-wing political cause over the past decade .-Biography:Having...

). He is also the author of Communism: A Love Story and Killing: Misadventures in Violence.

Political activism

As a student activist and member of the Trotskyist group, the International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Sparrow was one of the Austudy Five

Austudy Five

The Austudy Five was the epithet given to a group of five activists arrested in 1992 at a National Union of Students national demonstration in Melbourne, Australia. NUS had called the demonstration around the Keating Government's proposed abolition of Austudy as a student grant to be replaced by a...

, controversially arrested after a protest in 1992. He was expelled from the ISO in 1995 and helped found the splinter organisation, Socialist Alternative

Socialist Alternative (Australia)

Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist political organisation in Australia formed by an expulsion from the former International Socialist Organisation in 1995. It is one of the largest groups of the Australian far Left, claiming to have the largest active membership. With branches across...

 (SA). After leaving SA, he was involved for some years in the group Civil Rights Defence.

Publications

Radical Melbourne, published by Vulgar Press

Vulgar Press

Vulgar Press is a publishing house based in Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1999, the publisher's stated aim is "the publication of working-class and other radical forms of writing". Vulgar Press publishes a number of books and magazines for alternative and non-profit companies and organisations...

, presents a guide through the first hundred years of political radicalism in Melbourne, focusing on the structures, streets and public places that remain today, and illustrated by rarely-seen images from the archives of the State Library of Victoria. Controversial journalist and author John Pilger

John Pilger

John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....

 called Radical Melbourne "a brilliantly original, long overdue unveiling of a great city's true past". The book inspired Radical Brisbane, a similar project about the Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 capital, by Raymond Evans and Carole Ferrier

Carole Ferrier

Carole Ferrier is a Feminist Australian Academic. She is Professor in English at the School of English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland. She has many published works about feminism, socialism, literature and culture...

.

The sequel, Radical Melbourne 2: The enemy within, also published by Vulgar, was described by reviewer Ian Morrison as "sparkl[ing] with furious wit ... the Sparrows are devastatingly funny."

Communism: A Love Story, published by Melbourne University Press, is a biography of the radical intellectual Guido Baracchi, a founder of the Communist Party of Australia

Communist Party of Australia

The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...

. The book traces Baracchi's political career from his support for the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

 to his association with the Trotskyist Fourth International

Fourth International

The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...

; it also examines his turbulent personal life and his relationships with writers such as Katharine Susannah Prichard

Katharine Susannah Prichard

Katharine Susannah Prichard was an Australian author and co-founding member of the Communist Party of Australia.-Biography:...

, Lesbia Harford

Lesbia Harford

Lesbia Harford was an Australian poet.Lesbia Venner Harford, daughter of E. J. and Helen Keogh, was born at Brighton, Victoria, on 9 April 1891. She was educated at the Sacré Coeur school at Malvern, Victoria, Mary's Mount school at Ballarat, Victoria, and at the University of Melbourne, where she...

 and Betty Roland

Betty Roland

Betty Roland was an Australian writer of plays, screenplays, novels, children's books and comics.-Early years:Betty Roland was born Mary Isobel Maclean at Kaniva, Victoria, the daughter of Roland and Matilda Maclean...

. It was shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award

Colin Roderick Award

The Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presented in 1967 and currently has a prize of A$10,000....

.

Killing: Misadventures in Violence, (Melbourne University Press), is a study of the social and psychological consequences of executions, combat and animal slaughter. It was a finalist in the Melbourne Prize for Literature Best Writing Award 2009.

Later work

After completing a PhD in Creative Media at RMIT University

RMIT University

RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....

 in 2007, Sparrow became a Research Fellow at Victoria University

Victoria University, Australia

Victoria University is a multi-sector tertiary institution based in Melbourne, Australia with 10 campuses.VU offers qualifications in higher education, vocational education , and short courses...

 and the editor of the literary journal Overland. His work has appeared in The Age

The Age

The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

, The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...

, Overland, Arena

Arena (Australian publishing co-operative)

Arena is an independent Australian radical and critical publishing group. It has been publishing continuously since 1963. Currently, its principal publications are the political and cultural Arena Magazine , and the twice-yearly theoretical publication Arena Journal...

, 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...

and other print publications; he contributes regularly to Crikey

Crikey

Crikey is an independent Australian electronic magazine comprising an open access website and an email newsletter available to subscribers. Well known in Australian political, media and business circles, Crikey was described by former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular...

, New Matilda, ABC The Drum Unleashed and other online outlets.
In late 2009, he began co-hosting the Aural Text show on Melbourne radio station 3RRR

3RRR

3RRR is a popular Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. It is the largest per capita subscribed radio station in the world....

with Alicia Sometimes.