Enza Gandolfo Enza Gandolfo i(A10823 works by)
Born: Established: 1957
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Australia,
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 ;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Italian
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BiographyHistory

Enza Gandolfo was born in Melbourne of Sicilian parents. A speaker of both Italian and English, she has received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, a Diploma of Education, a Graduate Diploma in Women's Studies, a Masters and PhD in Creative Writing. She has worked as a teacher, youth worker and a research officer in local government and since 2005 as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Victoria University.

Her first novel, Swimming (Vanark Press), was published in 2009 and was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award. She is interested in the power of stories to create understanding and empathy with a particular focus on feminist and political fiction. She is also interested in women and creativity and been involved in a number of collaborative projects including ART/HOPE/CULTURE: Empowering Migrant Women’s Art and Culture (2014) with Dr Anne Harris; The Everyday Creativity of Women Craftmakers (2009) and The Glory Box Project (2011) with Prof Marty Grace; and Inventory on Op Shop (2008) with Sue Dodd. From 2012, she was a co-editor of TEXT Journal of Writing and Writing Courses.

(Biography supplied by author.)

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Author writes in these languages:ENGLISH

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Bridge Melbourne : Scribe , 2018 13938691 2018 single work novel

'Did the dead exist? Were they watching? Were they ghosts? Not the kind he’d imagined as a child, draped with white sheets, with the ability to walk through walls, but the kind that lodged themselves in your heart, in your memories, the kind that came to you in dreams, that you could see when you closed your eyes and sometimes even when your eyes were opened.

'In 1970s Melbourne, 22-year-old Italian migrant Antonello is newly married and working as a rigger on the West Gate Bridge, a gleaming monument to a modern city. When the bridge collapses one October morning, killing 35 of his workmates, his world crashes down on him.

'In 2009, Jo and her best friend, Ashleigh, are on the verge of finishing high school and flush with the possibilities for their future. But one terrible mistake sets Jo’s life on a radically different course.

'Drawing on true events of Australia’s worst industrial accident — a tragedy that still scars the city — The Bridge is a profoundly moving novel that examines class, guilt, and moral culpability. Yet it shows that even the most harrowing of situations can give way to forgiveness and redemption. Ultimately, it is a testament to survival and the resilience of the human spirit.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.
2019 shortlisted The Stella Prize
Swimming : A Novel 2004 single work novel
— Appears in: Swimming : Writing Childlessness : A Novel and Exegesis 2004;

'Kate Wilks is a swimmer, a teacher and a writer, but she has never been a mother. She believes she has a good and satisfying life until a chance encounter with her ex-husband and his daughter. Suddenly submerged by a past overflowing with grief, secrets and betrayals, Kate is forced to reassess her life.

Swimming is a lyrical story of one woman's journey. A novel about loss and survival, friendship and love, creativity and fulfilment, it will resonate with anyone whose life hasn't turned out as planned.' (Publisher's blurb)
2010 shortlisted Barbara Jefferis Award
2008 shortlisted ABC Fiction Award
VIEW ALL AWARDS
Last amended 2 Jun 2016 17:02:03
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