Guide to the Papers of Marion Halligan

MS 8460, Acc04.092

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator: Marion Halligan
Title: Papers of Marion Halligan
Date Range: ca. 1970-ca. 2003
Collection Number: MS 8460, Acc04.092
Extent: 7.7 metres (39 boxes, 2 cartons, 4 small cartons, 1 folio box)
Language of Materials: English
Repository: National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The collection comprises papers relating to Halligan's prolific career as a writer. 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, mostly relating to literary and publicity matters. Included is correspondence with literary agents Curtis Brown, numerous publishers regarding publication of Halligan's books, editors of journals and newspapers regarding publication of her short stories, reviews essays and articles and with organisations regarding personal appearances. There is also correspondence with other authors, many of whom have become personal friends. Correspondents include Carmel Bird, Judith Brett, David Brookes, Manning Clark, Robert Dessaix, Geoffrey Dutton, Roseanne Fitzgibbons, Mem Fox, Susan Hawthorne, A.D. Hope, Nicholas Jose, Stephen Knight, Drusilla Modjeska, Douglas Muecke, Michael Symons, Brenda Niall, RicThrossell, Nancy Sawer and Barbara Kerr Wilson.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1981824).

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Marion Halligan, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.

Provenance

The papers have been acquired from Marion Halligan under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme (later the Cultural Gifts Program) in instalments received in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998 and 1999.

Series 1/1-10 were received in 1991;series 2/1-28, 3/1-23, 4/1-4 and 5/1-3 were received in 1992; series 6/1-23 was received in 1994; series 4/5-12, 5/4-5, 7/1, 8/1-4, 11/1-3, 13/1-11, 14/1-5 and 16/1 were received 30^thJune 1998; series 1/11, 4/13-14, 5/6, 6/24-27, 8/5-6, 10/1-2, 12/1-10, 13/12-13, 15/1-11, 14/6 were received 28^th June 1999; series 5/7-23, 9/1 and 12/11-12 were received 14 July 1999.

An interview with Marion Halligan by Heather Rusden on 17 January 1995 is held in the Oral History Section of the Library at ORAL TRC 3193.

Arrangement

The papers have been arranged into series by the Library. Because the papers have been acquired in a number of instalments, the order of the series and the order of papers within a particular series may not necessarily be chronological or logical.

Because the collection has been received in a number of instalments, material relating to a specific series may be located in several boxes.

Finding Aid Source(s)

Please note: This finding aid may comprise or contain descriptive information provided by donors, researchers and/or volunteers.

Collection Retrieval Advice

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Bibliography

Halligan's published works include: Self possession, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 1987 The living hothouse, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 1988 The hanged man in the garden, Melbourne, Penguin, 1989 Spider cup, Melbourne, Penguin Books, 1990 Eat my words, Sydney Angus & Robertson, 1990 Lovers' knots : a hundred-year novel, Melbourne, Heinemann, 1992 The worry box, Melbourne, Minerva, 1993 Wishbone, Melbourne, William Heinemann Australia, 1994 Out of the picture, Canberra, National Library of Australia, 1996 Cockles of the heart, Melbourne, Minerva, 1996 The midwife's daughters, story by Marion Halligan, pictures by David Mackintosh, Melbourne, Mammoth, 1997 Collected stories, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 1997 The golden dress, Melbourne, Viking, 1998 The fog garden : a novel, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 2001

Biographical Note

Marion Halligan is a novelist, short story writer, reviewer and essayist. Born Marion Crothall in Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1940, she was educated at Newcastle Girl's High School and Newcastle University. In 1963, she married Graham Halligan; they had two children. Before becoming a full-time writer, Halligan worked as a part-time teacher and freelance journalist.

Halligan has published books, novels and collections of her short stories. She has also had a number of her short stories and essays published in journals, periodicals and anthologies. She has been a prolific reviewer of books, with her reviews appearing in major Australian newspapers and journals.

During the course of her career, Halligan has been a participant in numerous literary events both in Australia and overseas. In addition to this, she has been a committee member and Chair of the Australian National Word Festival and was Chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council in 1992-1995.

Halligan has received a number of fellowships from the Literature Board of the Australia Council and in 1994 she won the Newton John Award, given to a graduate of Newcastle University for creative and innovative work.

Halligan has won numerous awards for her writing. She has received the Age Book of the Year Award, the ACT Book of the Year Award, the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Steele Rudd Award, the Braille Book of the Year Award, the 3M Talking Book of the Year Award, and the Geraldine Pascall prize for critical writing. She has been shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Prize, the Miles Franklin Award and the Nita B. Kibble Award and The Fog Garden was shortlisted in the Queensland Premier's Literary Award.

References:

Allen & Unwin website.

Biographical note produced by Penguin Books for publicity purposes, 1998

Item Descriptions

Class MS 8460. Original consignment

Comprises papers relating to Marion 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. Included is correspondence with literary agents Curtis Brown, numerous publishers regarding publication of Halligan's books, editors of journals and newspapers regarding publication of her short stories, reviews, essays and articles and with organisations regarding personal appearances. There is also correspondence with other authors, many of whom have become personal friends. Correspondents include Carmel Bird, Judith Brett, David Brookes, Manning Clark, Robert Dessaix, Geoffrey Dutton, Roseanne Fitzgibbons, Mem Fox, Susan Hawthorne, A.D. Hope, Nicholas Jose, Stephen Knight, Drusilla Modjeska, Douglas Muecke, Michael Symons, Brenda Niall, Ric Throssell, Nancy Sawer and Barbara Kerr Wilson.

Contained in 33 boxes, 1 fol. box.

Series 1. Spider cup, 1989-1991

Halligan's novel, Spider cup, was published by Penguin, Melbourne in 1990. Papers in this series include correspondence, edited drafts and a copy of the original edition, which contained major printing errors on pages 95 and 101, and was subsequently withdrawn from circulation and replaced with a corrected edition.

Correspondence, 1989-1991 (File 1) - Box 1

Notes and manuscript drafts (File 2-3) - Box 1

Edited typescripts (File 4-9) - Box 1, 2

Copy of the original edition (File 10) - Box 2

Early typescript of the complete book (File 11) - Box 14

Series 2. The living hothouse

A book of short stories, The living hothouse was published by University of Queensland Press in 1988. This series comprises manuscript and typescript drafts and edited typescript and proofs of the complete book. Some of the stories had been published prior to inclusion in the book, and photocopies of the published version are included with the relevant chapter.

The living hothouse won the Steele Rudd Award and the Braille Book of the Year Award.

Draft manuscript and typescript of chapters 1-21 (File 1-25) - Box 3, 4, 5

Typescript of the entire book, with the working title 'The star crossed lover's game' (File 26) - Box 6

Typescript of The living hothouse, in which the chapter arrangement differs to the published version of the book (File 27) - Box 6

Edited proofs (File 28) - Box 6

Comment sheets completed by readers when the book was short listed for the Braille Book of the Year Award, 1989 (File 29) - Box 14

Series 3. The hanged man in the garden

This series comprises papers relating to Halligan's book of short stories entitled The hanged man in the garden, which was published by Penguin, Melbourne in 1989. Included are manuscript and typescript drafts and edited typescript of the complete book. Some of the stories had been published prior to inclusion in the book, and photocopies of the published version are included with the relevant chapter.

Draft manuscript and typescript of each chapter of the book (File 1-19) - Box 6, 7, 8

Typescript of the complete book (File 20) - Box 9

Photocopy of edited typescript (File 21) - Box 9

Edited typescript of complete book (File 22-23) - Box 9

Series 4. Short stories

Halligan has been a prolific writer of short stories, since having her first published in the Australia Women's Weekly in 1969. As well as having published collections of her stories, she has contributed to anthologies, journals and magazines. Included in this series are manuscript and typescript of drafts of some of the stories.

A number of short stories, some of which were used in The living hothouse and The hanged man in the garden. The stories have been grouped by Halligan into the following subject headings: French stories, Educations, Marriage and Scenes of a capital life (File 1-3) - Box 10

Typescripts (File 4) - Box 10

'Multitudinous teas incarnadine'

'Induction'

'Salut Dr Appleton'

'Blood will out'

Typescript of 'The power of words' (File 5) - Box 10

'Marigold': notes, manuscript and typescript of a story included in Toads: Australian writers: other work, other lives, edited by Andrew Sant and published by Allen Unwin, 1992 (File 6) - Box 14

'Salix Babylonica': correspondence, manuscript and typescript of a story, which was published firstly in Millenium and later in Halligan's Collected stories

Typescript of 'Star crossed lover's game' and manuscript of 'Coming to terms', the latter of which was included in Women/love/sex, edited by Susan Johnson and published by Vintage in 1996; manuscript of 'My father's daughter', which was included in Daughters and fathers, published by University of Queensland Press, 1997 (File 7) - Box 14

Correspondence, manuscripts and typescripts of stories written in response to requests by Stephen Knight for contributions to More crimes for a summer Christmas (Allen and Unwin, 1991), A corpse at the Opera House (Allen and Unwin, 1992) and Murder at home (Allen and Unwin, 1993) (File 8) - Box 14

Correspondence, notes, manuscript and typescript of 'Perilous seas' and 'Most mortal enemy', contributions to Canberra Tales (Penguin, 1988) (File 9-11) - Box 15

Halligan was a finalist in the ABC Bicentennial Literary Awards, 1988, with 'Perilous seas'.

Also included are letters from literary agent Rosemary Creswell regarding the signing of a contract for a proposed book by the Canberra-based group of women authors, Seven Writers. They published a book of short stories, Canberra Tales, in 1988.

Notes, manuscript and typescript of 'Cazneaux room' (File 12) - Box 15

Typescripts (File 13) - Box 15

'The potter', Halligan's first published short story, which appeared in the Australian Women's Weekly, 1969

Manuscript of 'The people on the pass'

Manuscript of 'I love you'

Notes and manuscript of 'Here be dragons'

Notes and typescript of 'Melancholy', 1994 (File 14) - Box 15

Copy of the Australian Women's Weekly, 1969, containing Halligan's first published short story entitled 'The potter' (File) - Folio-Box 1

Series 5. Correspondence, 1980-1997

The bulk of this series comprises business correspondence. Included is correspondence with literary agents Curtis Brown, numerous publishers regarding publication of Halligan's books, editors of journals and newspapers regarding publication of her short stories, reviews, essays and articles and with organisations regarding personal appearances. There is also correspondence with other authors, many of whom have become personal friends. Halligan was one of a group of seven Canberra-based women authors, Seven Writers, and there are letters from the other members of the group who were Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse, Suzanne Edgar, Marian Eldridge, Dorothy Horsfield and Dorothy Johnston.

Personal correspondents include Carmel Bird, Judith Brett, David Brookes, Manning Clark, Robert Dessaix, Geoffrey Dutton, Roseanne Fitzgibbons, Mem Fox, Susan Hawthorne, A.D. Hope, Nicholas Jose, Stephen Knight, Drusilla Modjeska, Douglas Muecke, Michael Symons, Brenda Niall, RicThrossell, Nancy Sawer and Barbara Kerr Wilson. Organisational correspondents include Allen and Unwin, The Australia Council, Australian Book Review, The Canberra Times, Curtis Brown, Descant, Imprint, Island, Meanjin, McPhee Gribble, Overland, Penguin Books, Quadrant, Random House, Southerly, University of Queensland Press and Westerly.

Halligan has grouped the letters of some individuals and some organisations into separate files. Other correspondence she has grouped chronologically by year. This arrangement has been retained. However, often letters of the individuals and organisations listed separately are also included in the chronologically arranged correspondence.

Correspondence with University of Queensland Press, 1981-1988 (File 1) - Box 10

Correspondence with University of Queensland Press relating to The living hothouse and Self possession, 1985-1989 (File 2) - Box 10

General correspondence, 1986-1991 (File 3) - Box 10

Correspondence with Meanjin, 1981-1995 (File 4) - Box 15

Correspondence with Island and Imprint, 1982-1994 (File 5) - Box 15

Correspondence with Penguin Books, 1989-1995 (File 6) - Box 16

Letters of Michael Symons, 1984-1995 Letters of Geoffrey Dutton, 1980-1992 (File 7) - Box 16

Letters of Doug Muecke, 1980-1985 (File 8) - Box 16

Letters from members of Seven Writers, 1988-1997 (File 9) - Box 16

Correspondence with Rosanne Fitzgibbons, University of Queensland Press, 1983-1997 (File 10) - Box 16

General correspondence, 1981-1982 (File 11) - Box 16

General correspondence, 1983-1984 (File 12) - Box 16

General correspondence, 1985-1987 (File 13) - Box 17

General correspondence, 1988 (File 14) - Box 17

General correspondence, 1989 (File 15) - Box 17

General correspondence, 1990 (File 16) - Box 17

General correspondence, 1991 (File 17) - Box 17

General correspondence, 1992 (File 18) - Box 17

General correspondence, 1993 (File 19) - Box 17

General correspondence, 1994 (File 20) - Box 18

General correspondence, 1995 (File 21) - Box 18

General correspondence, 1996 (File 22) - Box 18

General correspondence, 1997 (File 23) - Box 18

Series 6. Lovers' knots, 1988-1993

The series contains manuscripts, typescripts and galley proofs of Halligan's novel, Lovers' knots, together with notes, reviews, publicity material and correspondence. Most of the correspondence is with staff of publishers William Heinemann Australia, especially Louise Adler and Judy Brookes. Note: the working title for this novel was 'The tin mission'.

Lovers' knots won the Age Book of the Year Award (1992), the ACT Book of the Year Award (1993), the 3M Talking Book of the Year Award and the inaugural Nita B. Kibble Award.

Manuscript (File 1-4) - Box 11

Typescript (File 5-14) - Box 11, 12

Edited galley proofs (File 15) - Box 12

Synopses (File 16) - Box 13

Correspondence, 1988-1993 (File 17) - Box 13

Reviews and publicity, 1992-19993 (File 18) - Box 13

Miscellaneous drafts and notes (File 19-22) - Box 13

Publications on Newcastle (File 23) - Box 13

Edited typescript (File 24-25) - Box 18, 19

Page proofs (File 26) - Box 19

Correspondence and notes, 1991-1992 (File 27) - Box 19

Series 7. Eat my words, 1989-1994

Halligan's book of essays on culinary themes, Eat my words, was published by Angus and Robertson, Sydney in 1990. This small series contains correspondence with literary agents Curtis Brown and publishers Collins, Angus & Robertson.

Correspondence with publishers relating to Eat my words (File 1) - Box 19

Series 8. The worry box, 1992

In this series are papers relating to Halligan's book of short stories entitled The worry box, which was published by Minerva, Melbourne in 1993. Included are manuscript and typescript drafts and author's proofs.

Manuscript and typescript drafts of 'Salut Dr Appleton'/ 'Vale Prof Appleton', one of the stories in the collection (File 1) - Box 19

Manuscript and typescript drafts (File 2-4) - Box 19, 20

Edited typescript of complete book (File 5) - Box 20

Author's proofs, 1992 (File 6) - Box 20

Series 9. Wishbone, 1994

Halligan's novel, Wishbone, was published by William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne in 1994. This series comprises correspondence relating to the publication of the book.

Correspondence relating to the publication of Wishbone (File 1) - Box 20

Series 10. Out of the picture, 1992-1995

Contained in this series is correspondence, research notes and early drafts relating to Halligan's book of short stories entitled Out of the picture, which was commissioned by the National Library of Australia in 1995. Halligan selected a range of images from the Library's Pictorial Collection and built a story around each image. The book was published by the National Library in 1996.

Research notes and correspondence with the National Library, 1992-1995 (File 1) - Box 20

Early drafts (File 2) - Box 20

Series 11. Collected stories, 1997

This series comprises manuscript and typescript drafts of Halligan's book of short stories entitled Collected stories, which was published by University of Queensland

Press, Brisbane in 1997. Some of the stories were previously published in her books The living hothouse and The hanged man in the garden.

Drafts of short stories contained in Collected Stories (File 1-3) - Box 21

Series 12. The golden dress, 1996-1999

Halligan's novel, The golden dress, was published by Viking, Melbourne in 1998. This series comprises correspondence, mostly relating to publication of the novel, research notes and edited drafts. Note: the working title for this novel was 'Shagreen'.

Correspondence, 1997-1999 (File 1) - Box 21

Research notes, 1996 (File 2) - Box 21

Manuscript drafts (File 3-4) - Box 21, 22

Typescript drafts, 1996 (File 5-6) - Box 22

Edited typescript of complete book (File 7-9) - Box 22, 23

Edited page proofs, 1997 (File 10) - Box 23

Typescript of 'Gift wrapping', which relates to one of the sections in the book (File 11) - Box 23

Copy edited typescript, returned by Penguin, 1999 (File 12) - Box 23

Series 13. Reviews by Halligan, c1970-1997

Halligan has been a prolific reviewer of books, having been published in most major Australian media. In 1990, she won the inaugural Geraldine Pascall Prize for critical writing. Included in this series are copies of reviews written for various publications including The Age, The Australian, Australian Book Review, Australian Broadcasting Coroporation, The Canberra Times, Fremantle Arts Review, Imprint, Muse and The Women's Press. Halligan has grouped some of the reviews according to the publication in which they appeared and this arrangement has been retained.

Manuscript and typescript of miscellaneous reviews (File 1-4) - Box 24

Typescript of miscellaneous reviews, c1970 (File 5) - Box 24

Typescript of miscellaneous reviews, 1993-1997 (File 6) - Box 25

Reviews for The Age, 1992-1997 (File 7-8) - Box 25

Reviews for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1986-1997 (File 9) - Box 25

Reviews for The Australian, 1988-1996 (File 10) - Box 25

Reviews for Australian Book Review, 1990-1996 (File 11) - Box 26

Reviews for Fremantle Arts Review, 1989-1990 (File 12) - Box 26

Reviews for Muse, 1989 (File 12) - Box 26

Typescript of miscellaneous reviews (File 13) - Box 26

Series 14. Other writings, c1984-1999

In addition to novels, short stories and reviews, Halligan has contributed essays and articles on a diverse range of topics to journals and newspapers, given talks at functions, and contributed written pieces relating to life in the 1970s for an exhibition by the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG). Halligan also worked on the creation of a group-devised play with the Canberra Youth Theatre, developing a script from their improvisations. The resulting play, Elastics, was performed by the group in 1987.

Essays for The Age, 1992-1996 (File 1) - Box 26

Miscellaneous essays and articles, 1989-1995 (File 2-3) - Box 27

Text of talks given, c1984, 1993-1994 (File 4) - Box 27

Notes, manuscript and typescript of Elastics, 1987 (File 5) - Box 27

Correspondence and typescript of contributions to CMAG exhibition, 1999 (File 6) - Box 27

Series 15. Literary events, 1988-1998

During the course of her career, Halligan has been a participant in a number of literary events including word festivals, conferences and seminars. She has been a committee member and Chair of the Australian National Word Festival, a biennial event held in Canberra and has accepted invitations from academic institutions to visit as Writer-in Residence.

This series contains correspondence, publicity material and programs for specific events with which Halligan has been involved. Also included is correspondence, minutes and papers relating to the development of the program for the 1991 Australian National Word Festival, of which Halligan was Chair.

Australian National Word Festival: minutes, 1989-1991 (File 1) - Box 27

Australian National Word Festival: general correspondence, 1989-1991 (File 2) - Box 28

Australian National Word Festival: notes and correspondence relating to the development of the 1991 festival program (File 3-4) - Box 28

Papers relating to visits as Writer-in residence: (File 5) - Box 28

Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, 1990

Monash University, Melbourne, 1991

La Trobe University, Bundoora Campus, 1991

Warana Writers' Week, 1989, 1992 (File 6) - Box 28

Melbourne Writers' Festival, 1990-1998 (File 7) - Box 28

Women Writers' Workshop, London, 1993 (File 8) - Box 29

Papers relating to literary events (File 9-10) - Box 29

Spoloto Melbourne Writers' Festival, 1988-1990

Newcastle Writers' Festival, 1990

Fremantle Arts Centre, Weekend Writers' Seminar, Perth, 1992

Tasmanian Writers' Union, Salamanca Writers' Weekend Festival, 1993

NSW Writers' Centre, Spring Writing Weekend, Sydney, 1994

Adelaide Writers' Festival, 1996

Australian Food and Wine Writers' Festival, Adelaide, 1997

Down South Writers' Festival, Busselton, 1998

EASA conference, Klagenfurt, Austria, 1996-1997 (File 11) - Box 29

Series 16. Sundry papers, 1991

This series contains notes and the typescript of an interview with Halligan, which was included in Paul Kavanagh's book Conversations: interviews with Australian writers, published by Angus & Robertson, Sydney in 1991

Notes of an interview with Marion Halligan conducted by Paul Kavanagh (File 1) - Box 29

Class Acc04.092. Consignment added 2004

Comprises correspondence, drafts, publishing material, printed material and other papers, including material relating to The living hothouse (1988), Eat my words (1990), Cockles of the heart (1996), Those women who go to hotels (1997), The gift of story (1998), Storykeepers (2001), The fog garden (2001), the Newcastle Regional Museum exhibition "How shall we live", 2003, and miscellaneous writings, together with papers relating to the Word Festival.

Contained in 6 boxes, 2 cartons, 4 small cartons.

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