Elizabeth Ward Elizabeth Ward i(A23831 works by) (a.k.a. Biff Ward; Elizabeth Biff Ward)
Born: Established: 1942 Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Elizabeth Ward is the daughter of Russel Ward (b. Adelaide, 1914-1995), teacher, historian and writer. Her parents were both fourth generation South Australians. She was educated in Sydney and Canberra, and at the University of New England, Armidale. Ward has been a teacher (secondary schools, NSW and the ACT 1956-78), was co-ordinator of the government alternative School Without Walls in Canberra (1974-1977), has taught creative writing to adults, tutored in teacher education, worked in the Canberra Women's Refuge (1978-1981), taught adult literacy to Aboriginal people in Alice Springs, and has been an active member of Women for Survival (the group which organized the women's camp at the US military installation at Pine Gap). Since 1984 she has lived in Adelaide, although she spends a lot of time in Canberra.

Ward works as a management consultant specialising in equal opportunity issues. She has published articles and poems in feminist journals since the 1970s. As well as the poetry and short story listed below, she wrote Father-Daughter Rape (1984), and chapters in Women and Labour Conference Papers (1978) and Different Lives (1987). She won the FAW Donald Stuart Short Story Award 1991 for her unpublished story 'Leaving Tennant Creek'.

Most Referenced Works

Affiliation Notes

  • Born elsewhere; moved to SA

Personal Awards

2015 shortlisted Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship for the development of her memoir, ‘Vietnam, Mon Amour'

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Third Chopstick : Tracks through the Vietnam War Hazelbrook : Mosher's Business Support , 2022 26404078 2022 multi chapter work autobiography interview

'THE VIETNAM WAR ROCKED AUSTRALIA TO ITS CORE...

'The Third Chopstick transports us back to those days. In starkly beautiful prose Biff Ward, herself a protester, seeks to understand the war from multiple angles. She balances the heartfelt motivations of the protest movement with candid accounts from veterans about what was happening for them in Vietnam and afterwards. In riveting interviews, she explores combat, the ravages of PTSD, and the acceptance that can come with ageing and peer support.

'She also takes us to the peaceful Vietnam of the post-war years, capturing poignant images of the aftermath of what they, of course, call the American War. Her lyrical evocation of the people she meets and war sites she visits render the war in a new light. 

'The Third Chopstick is the profoundly moving story of one woman's passion to bear tender witness to those involved in that tumultuous time. A must-read for all the Vietnam generation, their descendants and friends.' (Publication summary)

2023 shortlisted ACT Notable Awards ACT Literary Awards Nonfiction
y separately published work icon In My Mother's Hands Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2014 7490739 2014 single work autobiography

'There are secrets in this family. Before Biff and her younger brother, Mark, there was baby Alison, who drowned in her bath because, it was said, her mother was distracted. Biff too, lives in fear of her mother's irrational behaviour and paranoia, and she is always on guard and fears for the safety of her brother. As Biff grows into teenage hood, there develops a conspiratorial relationship between her and her father, who is a famous and gregarious man, trying to keep his wife's problems a family secret. This was a time when the insane were committed and locked up in Dickensian institutions; whatever his problems her father was desperate to save his wife from that fate. But also to protect his children from the effects of living with a tragically disturbed mother.

'In My Mother's Hands is a beautifully written and emotionally perplexing coming-of-age true story about growing up in an unusual family.' (Publication summary)

2016 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Non-Fiction
2015 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
2015 longlisted The Stella Prize
2014 winner Canberra Critics Circle Awards Non-fiction
Last amended 17 Jan 2015 08:03:39
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