Seven Writers (1980 - 1998)

Seven Writers was a group of Canberra-based women writers who met regularly to debate and critique one another’s work.

This entry is sponsored by generous donation from Christine Foley.

• Canberra Seven

Members’ published works include short stories, novels, children’s literature, non-fiction, articles and reviews, and in diverse ways their writing vividly portrays life ‘beneath the surface of Canberra’.

Collectively the group authored Canberra Tales in 1988, later republished as The Division of Love in 1996, an anthology of short stories about life in Canberra. This was considered a landmark publication for Canberra fiction and received an ACT Bicentennial Award.

Seven Writers raised the profile of Canberra-based authors, and in 1995 a photographic portrait of the group appeared in the National Library of Australia exhibition, Beyond the Picket Fence.

After the death of Marian Eldridge in 1997, the group did not meet again for one year. Sara Dowse relocated to Canada in 1998. The remaining members are still friends but no longer meet formally to critique one another’s work.

Member

• Barbalet, Margaret Evelyn
• Dowse, Sara (1938 - )
• Edgar, Suzanne (1939 - )
• Eldridge, Marian Favel Clair (1936 - 1997)
• Halligan, Marion Mildred (1940 - )
• Horsfield, Dorothy (1948 - )
• Johnston, Dorothy (1948 - )

Related Events

• Eldridge Award (1998 - )

  Marian Eldridge (deceased) was a member of the Seven Writers group in Canberra.

Books

• Barbalet, Margaret et al, The Division of Love: Stories, Penguin, Ringwood, Vic, 1995, 258 pp. [ Details... ]

See also

• Barbalet, Margaret, Far from a Low Gutter Girl: the forgotten world of state wards, South Australia, 1887-1940, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1983, 286 pp. [ Details... ]
• Barbalet, Margaret, Blood in the Rain, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria, 1986, 204 pp. [ Details... ]
• Barbalet, Margaret, Steel Beach, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria, 1988, 176 pp. [ Details... ]
• Barbalet, Margaret, Lady, Baby, Gypsy, Queen, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria, 1992, 151 pp. [ Details... ]
• Barbalet, Margaret, The Presence of Angels, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria, 2001, 291 pp. [ Details... ]
• Dowse, Sara, West Block: the hidden world of Canberra's mandarins, Penguin, Ringwood, Vic, 1983, 290 pp. [ Details... ]
• Dowse, Sara, Silver City, Penguin, Ringwood, Vic, 1984, 198 pp. [ Details... ]
• Dowse, Sara, Schemetime, Penguin, Ringwood, Vic, 1990, 295 pp. [ Details... ]
• Dowse, Sara, Sapphires, Penguin, Ringwood, Vic, 1994, 219 pp. [ Details... ]
• Dowse, Sara, Digging, Penguin, Ringwood, Vic, 1996, 193 pp. [ Details... ]
• Edgar, Suzanne, Counting Backwards and other stories, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Qld, 1991, 145 pp. [ Details... ]
• Eldridge, Marian, Springfield, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1992, 306 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Self Possession, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1987, 285 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, The Living Hothouse, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1988, 283 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, The Hanged Man in the Garden, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria, 1989, 183 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Spidercup, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria, 1990, 153 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Eat My Words, Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, NSW, 1990, 253 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, The Worry Box, Minerva Australia, Port Melbourne, 1993, 231 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Lovers' Knots: a hundred-year novel, Mandarin, Port Melbourne, 1993, 377 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Wishbone, Minerva Australia, Port Melbourne, 1995, 235 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Cockles of the Heart, Minerva Australia, Port Melbourne, 1996, 269 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Out of the Picture, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1996, 123 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, Collected Stories, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1997. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, The Golden Dress, Viking, Ringwood, Victoria, 1998, 380 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, The Fog Garden: A Novel, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, 2001, 294 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, The Taste of Memory, Allen & Unwin, East Melbourne, 2004, 275 pp. [ Details... ]
• Halligan, Marion, The Apricot Colonel, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, 2006, 263 pp. [ Details... ]
• Horsfield, Dorothy, Dream Run, Minerva Australia, Port Melbourne, Vic, 1992, 204 pp. [ Details... ]
• Horsfield, Dorothy, Venom, Pandanus Books, Canberra, 2005, 305 pp. [ Details... ]
• Johnston, Dorothy, Tunnel Vision, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1984, 98 pp. [ Details... ]
• Johnston, Dorothy, Ruth, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1986, 159 pp. [ Details... ]
• Johnston, Dorothy, Maralinga, my love, McPhee Gribble/Penguin, Fitzroy, Victoria, 1988, 264 pp. [ Details... ]
• Johnston, Dorothy, One for the Master, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, SA, 1997, 270 pp. [ Details... ]
• Johnston, Dorothy, The Trojan Dog, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, SA, 2000, 268 pp. [ Details... ]
• Johnston, Dorothy, The House at Number 10, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, SA, 2005, 257 pp. [ Details... ]