image of person or book cover 1032784308910395658.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 A Life in Words : Collected Writings from Gallipoli to the Melbourne Cup
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The collected writing of one of Australia's most admired authors and journalists, Les Carlyon.

''Les Carlyon has died, and Australia has lost one of its greatest wordsmiths.' Greg Baum, The Age

''He's been called Australia's Damon Runyon, but that tag is far too limiting to do him justice. Certainly his turf stories are usually character-driven gems. But read him on Anzac Cove, or Bradman, or Ted Whitten, or any part of the essence of this country. He writes with gritty elegance.' Harry Gordon

'Les Carlyon was one of Australia's greatest journalists and writers. His career in newspapers was stellar, becoming editor of The Age at 33, and going on to become editor in chief of The Herald & Weekly Times. But he was always more about the written word than about management, winning two Walkley Awards and the coveted Graham Perkin Journalist of the Year Award across a career where he covered everything from politics to horse racing.

'Yet most Australians will know him as an author, writing books that gave us the very essence of our history and our culture - whether in the trenches of the Western Front, or in the betting ring at Flemington. His epic account of the Gallipoli campaign, Gallipoli (2001), was as ground-breaking in its day as Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore, combining incredible research and an ability to capture the human essence with a style that was distinctively his own. Gallipoli went on to sell over 250,000 copies in Australia, and his follow-up book The Great War (2006) won the Prime Ministers Prize for History, and was the 2007 ABIA Book of the Year. The Master (2012), an intimate portrait of Bart Cummings, cemented Les's place as Australia's greatest ever horse racing writer.

'From Don Bradman to Paul Keating, from Flemington to Flanders, from Henry Lawson to Clive James, A Life in Words is a collection of Les's very best writing, taken from across his career.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: 'For Belinda, Matthew, James, Jack, Charlie, Lucy and Chloe - who brought joy to their grandfather.'

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 1032784308910395658.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 450p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published August 2021
      ISBN: 9781760879723

Works about this Work

A Venerable Wordsmith : Taking a Punt on Les Carlyon Seumas Spark , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 438 2021; (p. 30)

— Review of A Life in Words : Collected Writings from Gallipoli to the Melbourne Cup Les Carlyon , 2021 selected work essay column
'I guess every reviewer comes to a book with expectations, especially when the author’s reputation precedes him or her. On opening this collection, I knew that Les Carlyon (who died in 2019) wrote well. I remember my parents reading him in The Age and murmuring approval of his lyrical style and, sometimes, the content. I knew he loved horses, the track, and the punt. To me these were disappointments to overlook: I have hated horse racing since I was a kid driving around with my grandfather in his Datsun, windows up and the races on. My grandfather never wound down the windows, presumably so he could hear the call: perhaps it was the lack of fresh air that poisoned me against the sport. And I knew that Carlyon had written huge tomes on war and the Australian experience: Gallipoli (2001) and The Great War (2006) won acclaim, sold well, and left some military historians with reservations about his scholarship. My expectations, mostly, were realised. I sped through A Life in Words, encountering witty and whimsical delights along the way.' (Introduction)
Come Writers and Critics Caroline Overington , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7 August 2021; (p. 15)

— Review of A Life in Words : Collected Writings from Gallipoli to the Melbourne Cup Les Carlyon , 2021 selected work essay column
Come Writers and Critics Caroline Overington , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7 August 2021; (p. 15)

— Review of A Life in Words : Collected Writings from Gallipoli to the Melbourne Cup Les Carlyon , 2021 selected work essay column
A Venerable Wordsmith : Taking a Punt on Les Carlyon Seumas Spark , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 438 2021; (p. 30)

— Review of A Life in Words : Collected Writings from Gallipoli to the Melbourne Cup Les Carlyon , 2021 selected work essay column
'I guess every reviewer comes to a book with expectations, especially when the author’s reputation precedes him or her. On opening this collection, I knew that Les Carlyon (who died in 2019) wrote well. I remember my parents reading him in The Age and murmuring approval of his lyrical style and, sometimes, the content. I knew he loved horses, the track, and the punt. To me these were disappointments to overlook: I have hated horse racing since I was a kid driving around with my grandfather in his Datsun, windows up and the races on. My grandfather never wound down the windows, presumably so he could hear the call: perhaps it was the lack of fresh air that poisoned me against the sport. And I knew that Carlyon had written huge tomes on war and the Australian experience: Gallipoli (2001) and The Great War (2006) won acclaim, sold well, and left some military historians with reservations about his scholarship. My expectations, mostly, were realised. I sped through A Life in Words, encountering witty and whimsical delights along the way.' (Introduction)
Last amended 18 Oct 2021 14:32:32
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