Endowed by Dr John Seymour and Mrs Heather Seymour AO, the Seymour Biography Lecture provides eminent life writers with an opportunity to explore the business and craft of biography, autobiography or memoir.

Between 2005 and 2009, the Lecture was hosted by the Australian National University's Humanities Research Centre.

In 2010, the Lecture moved to the National Library of Australia, as part of the Seymours' ongoing sponsorship/support program. The Seymours also sponsor a National Library of Australia Scholarship for biographical research being done by young postgraduate students.

Seymour Biography lectures

Professor Chris Wallace, 2023

Jacqueline Kent, 2022

Emeritus Professor Judith Brett, 2019

Richard Fidler, 2018

Raimond Gaita, 2017

David Marr, 2016

Robert Drewe, 2015

Professor Ray Monk, 2014

Drusilla Modjeska, 2013

Professor Jeffrey Meyers, 2012

Robert Dessaix, 2011

Professor Frances Spalding CBE, 2010

Earlier Seymour Biography lectures hosted by the ANU Humanities Research Centre

  • Dr David Day, 2009, Writing Political Lives
  • Richard Holmes, 2008, Biography: The Past Has a Great Future
  • Professor Jill Roe, 2007, Biography and the Struggle for the Soul of Australia
  • Dr Lawrence Goldman, 2006, Virtual Lives: History & Biography in an Electronic Age
  • Dr Brenda Niall, 2005, Walking Upon Ashes: The Footsteps of a Modern Biographer

The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Cultural Notification

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website contains a range of material which may be considered culturally sensitive including the records of people who have passed away.

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