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Anna Funder Anna Funder i(A24555 works by)
Born: Established: 1966 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Looking for Eileen : How George Orwell Wrote His Wife Out of His Story Anna Funder , 2023 single work essay
— Appears in: The Guardian , 30 July 2023;
1 y separately published work icon Anna Funder Is Her Own Wife Anna Funder , 2023 26623582 2023 single work podcast
2 20 y separately published work icon Wifedom : Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life Anna Funder , Melbourne : Penguin , 2023 26029796 2023 single work biography

'A blazing, genre-bending masterpeice from one of the most inventive writers of our time.

'Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own…

'When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it’s a revelation. Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s literary brilliance shaped Orwell’s work and her practical nous saved his life. But why – and how – was she written out of the story?

'Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells’ marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and WW II in London. As she rolls up the screen concealing Orwell’s private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer – and what it is to be a wife.

'Compelling and utterly original, Wifedom speaks to the unsung work of women everywhere today, while offering a breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the 20th century. It is a book that speaks to our present moment as much as it illuminates the past.'(Publication summary)

1 Anna Funder Anna Funder , 2022 single work biography
— Appears in: Turning Points : 25 Remarkable Australians and the Moments That Changed Their Lives 2022;
1 Stasiland Now Anna Funder , 2019 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , December/January no. 162 2019; (p. 24-38)
'Sometimes a mistake can be so big that it is invisible to you. This is the kind of mistake that might underpin a project, like Stasiland. Or it might be the kind that underpins a life, like those of the Stasi men.' (Introduction)
1 We Mustn't Lose the Plot Anna Funder , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 26 August 2016;
'This is an edited version of a speech to the Australian Booksellers Association conference on the occasion of the announcement of finalists for the 2016 Miles Franklin Award.'
1 Anna Funder Anna Funder , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: #SaveOzStories 2016;
1 What I Owe : The Effect of Tirra Lirra by the River Anna Funder , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 75 no. 2 2016; (p. 144-153)
1 The Missing Novels Debra Adelaide , Bernadette Brennan , Geraldine Brooks , Gregory Day , Ian Donaldson , Anna Funder , Andrea Goldsmith , Rodney Hall , Sonya Hartnett , Gail Jones , Susan Lever , Brian Matthews , Peter Rose , Susan Sheridan , Geordie Williamson , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 374 2015; (p. 41-43)
'Early success is no guarantee of a book’s continued availability or circulation. Some major and/or once-fashionable authors recede from public consciousness, and in some cases go out of print. We invited some writers and critics to identity novelists who they feel should be better known.'
1 1 y separately published work icon The Girl with the Dogs Anna Funder , Melbourne : Penguin , 2015 8681283 2015 single work novella

''To live with someone for a long time requires an element of fiction – the selective use of facts to craft an ongoing story.'

'Amid the debris of her friends' relationships, Tess has a marriage that's comparatively unscathed. But she's at a hinge moment, poised between her present life and the one she decided against in her youth. What could she have made of her life had she chosen differently? And what will she risk to find out?

'Deceptively concise, The Girl with the Dogs is a masterful story about life from beginning to end, and about the brief moments of choice that have enduring consequences.' (Publication summary)

1 Rooms of Their Own Anna Funder , 2015 extract essay (Afterword)
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14-15 February 2015; (p. 26-27)
'Jessica Anderson's Tirra Lirra by the River had a profound effect on many students in the 1980's Australia. Author Anna Funder describes the novel's influence on her.'
1 Afterword Anna Funder , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Tirra Lirra by the River 2015;
1 Memories are Made of This Anna Funder , 2014 single work prose
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22-23 February 2014; (p. 38)
1 From : All That I Am Anna Funder , 2013 extract novel (All That I Am)
— Appears in: A Country Too Far : Writings on Asylum Seekers 2013; (p. 211-220)
1 Family Tree Anna Funder , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22-23 July 2013; (p. 40)
1 Books of the Year Graeme Blundell , Helen Garner , Jaya Savige , Anna Funder , Delia Falconer , Peter Craven , J. M. Coetzee , Stella Clarke , Les Carlyon , James Bradley , Jane Gleeson-White , Susan Johnson , James Ley , Ashley Hay , Leigh Sales , Alex Miller , Ramona Koval , Evelyn Juers , Peter Pierce , Nicolas Rothwell , Colm Toibin , Kirsten Tranter , Brenda Walker , Maria Tumarkin , Geordie Williamson , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 22-23 December 2012; (p. 14-15)
Leading writers and critics share their best reads for 2012.
1 The Words That Have Inspired Helen Garner , Thomas Keneally , Germaine Greer , Alex Miller , Colm Toibin , Kerry Greenwood , Elliot Perlman , Brenda Niall , Anna Funder , Luke Davies , Peter Temple , Jennifer Maiden , Richard Flanagan , Michael Robotham , Kate Holden , Michael Farrell , Chris Wallace-Crabbe , Sophie Cunningham , Robert Adamson , James Bradley , Kim Scott , Charlotte Wood , Michael McGirr , Gig Ryan , Chris Womersley , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 8 December 2012; (p. 26-29) The Canberra Times , 8 December 2012; (p. 19-22) The Sydney Morning Herald , 8-9 December 2012; (p. 32-36)
Australian writers and reviewers, together with Ireland's Colm Toibin, each nominate their best books of 2012. Some of the books listed are by Australian writers.
1 Anna Funder : The Books That Changed Me Anna Funder , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 27 November 2011; (p. 6)
Anna Funder nominates five books that changed her.
1 Open Page with Anna Funder Anna Funder , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 335 2011; (p. 72)
16 62 y separately published work icon All That I Am Anna Funder , Camberwell : Hamish Hamilton , 2011 Z1731728 2011 single work novel historical fiction

'Anna Funder's utterly compelling first novel All That I Am is about the heroic and largely tragic fate of a small group of left-wing German activists who opposed the rise of Hitler. It centres on two real people: the playwright Ernst Toller (famously eulogized by his friend W H Auden), and one of his associates, Ruth Koplowitz. Ruth was also a friend of Toller, and came to live in Sydney after WW2, where Anna got to know her well in later life. Their lives were tied together by the charismatic, passionate Dora - All That I Am vividly, passionately and irresistibly brings back to life their struggles, their hopes, their fears and their fates.'

Source: Penguin News, 6 October 2010
Sighted: 11/10/2010

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