Agnes Nieuwenhuizen Agnes Nieuwenhuizen i(A31116 works by)
Born: Established: 5 Jul 1939
c
Iran,
c
Middle East, Asia,
; Died: Ceased: 14 Sep 2017
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1949
Heritage: Hungarian
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Works By

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1 Remembering an Authoritarian Father Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23 September 2017; (p. 20)

'The cover photograph on A Fuhrer for a Father shows Jim Davidson with his then wife Olga. They are the parents of the author, Melbourne writer and historian Jim Davidson. The acknowledgment reads: “Olga and her keeper, Melbourne Zoo, c 1942, courtesy of the author.” The designation of Davidson the father as his wife’s “keeper” in a photo taken in a zoo is no accident. It reflects precisely how Davidson the son viewed his father in life. This memoir is “an account of my father and his consequences”. He elaborates in his preface:

'Authoritarianism was the basic assumption on which my father ran his family and faced the world … Everything was firm, definite, unequivocal and hierarchical — in the household, as beyond it … This [story] … reveals a particularly aberrant instance of patriarchy, expressed in domestic violence towards wives and a persistent antagonism towards a gay son.' (Introduction)

1 'Quotidian Lives' : Intimate Histories of Fifty Australian Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 393 2017; (p. 16)

'Meet Ruth Apps, born 1926 and gleefully proud of her Irish convict ancestry. Her father lost the use of an arm in Gallipoli and was also mentally affected. During World War II he slept in the yard to avoid bombs. Ruth won a scholarship to a selective girls’ high school in Sydney when few girls were educated beyond primary school. She did well and gained work as a stenographer. She loved going to the ‘Saturday arvo flicks’ and family camping beach holidays. She met a railway guard on a train, but was lectured by her mother because ‘Nice girls don’t go out with boys who are not introduced.’ Despite the lack of an introduction, Ruth married Bill and they lived happily. She left work when she fell pregnant. Their first child died shortly after being born with ‘multiple deformities’. There were no scans available in those days. Subsequently, Ruth and Bill had three healthy and successful daughters. Ruth returned to work when her youngest started school and was called a ‘fallen woman’ by some for this. She loved working, was promoted and respected, and managed to win a battle for equal pay. She felt guilty and wondered if she should have had children, despite loving and caring well for her girls. She was an early adopter of the contraceptive pill. In her youth, there were only two ‘foreigners’ living in their street; now there are only two Anglo families on her block in Westmead, Sydney. One of her daughters ‘married a Pole and a granddaughter married a Lebanese man’.' (Introduction)

1 Stories Bring Out the Best in Disenchanted Poet Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 17 June 2017; (p. 20)
'Ian McFarlane is at his best when he abandons his abiding concerns (more on that later) and allows free rein to his imagination and facility with words. He mostly achieves this with his short stories and occasionally in his poetry.' (Introduction)
1 Intrepid Women of the World Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 27 May 2017; (p. 22)
'Four women, four rich, adventurous lives. Catherine Anderson has a big, bold story to tell in The End of All Our Exploring. Anderson fleetingly meets Angus McDonald, a noted Australian photojournalist, in McLeod Ganj, high up in the Himalayas near the home of the Dalai Lama and his exiled followers. She explains, “All I wanted was to live and breathe in India.” Life is hard but stimulating and the scenery spectacular. Eventually she needs to extricate herself from a marriage with an illiterate, abusive ex-monk and leave. “I began to feel uncomfortable in a place that fed hungrily on the misfortune of an entire people — the Tibetans.” Anderson’s memoir is less self-absorbed, more outward looking, more cerebral, more invested in the world around her, than the other books here. However, hers too encompasses travel, love, illness, loss, death, grief and ways of dealing with the aftermath.' (Introduction)
1 Taking a Grown-up Approach to Aged Care Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 June 2016; (p. 20)

— Review of A Long Time Coming : Essays on Old Age Melanie Joosten , 2016 selected work essay
1 Conscript’s Homecoming War Is Worthy of a Classroom Course Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16-17 April 2016; (p. 18)

— Review of Dreaming the Enemy David Metzenthen , 2016 single work novel
1 Heads or Tails Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2016 single work review essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 387 2016; (p. 61)
'Much has been made of the fact that Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil is Melina Marchetta’s first adult novel. Marchetta is best known for her Young Adult titles, which include Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca, and On the Jellicoe Road lively, popular works about the intense lives and tribulations of teenagers and their families, often in a cross-cultural (Italian–Australian) context. Having also ventured successfully into fantasy, here she moves into crime drama. This genre provides a fast-paced, incident-packed, and undemanding reading experience. Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, who provides an endorsement for this book, is, along with Maureen McCarthy, Marchetta, and other ostensibly YA writers, widely read by adults. Marchetta is not straying far from her devoted audience.' (Introduction)
1 Migrant’s Tale Has Poetic Heart Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 10-11 December 2016; (p. 30)

— Review of Flight from the Brothers Grimm : A European-Australian Memoir Valerie Murray , 2016 single work autobiography
1 Belles of Laurinda Sound a Jarring Note Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 December 2014; (p. 19)

— Review of Laurinda Alice Pung , 2014 single work novel
1 Heart of the Ineffable Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8-9 November 2014; (p. 19)

— Review of What Days Are For Robert Dessaix , 2014 single work autobiography
1 Dickensian Transports Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1-2 November 2014; (p. 19)

— Review of South of Darkness John Marsden , 2014 single work novel
1 Coaxing the Universal From the Particular Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 31 May - 1 June 2014; (p. 20-21)

— Review of The Twelfth Raven : A Memoir of Stroke, Love and Recovery Doris Brett , 2014 single work autobiography ; Shy : A Memoir Sian Prior , 2014 single work autobiography
1 A Mother's Grief for a Lost Childhood Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13-14 April 2013; (p. 20-21)

— Review of Boy, Lost : A Family Memoir Kristina Olsson , 2013 single work biography
1 [Essay] : Zac and Mia Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;

'In the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s there was a flurry of what were called ‘single issue’ or ‘problem’ novels for teenagers. The books focused on problems or issues that frequently confronted teenagers, such as bullying, anorexia, child abuse, depression, suicide, unplanned pregnancies, struggles over friendships, puberty, divorce, and more. These were indeed matters faced by young people, and the rationale was that by reading about others in similar situations, teenagers would feel less alone and might also find ways of coping. ‘Reading novels dealing with social and personal problems is a safe way to bring these issues into focus and give adolescents a chance to talk about their own experiences or relate their own lives to what others have gone through’ (Diana Hodge, The Conversation, 13 June 2014). There is a whiff of bibliotherapy (books and reading as therapy) in this view which seems to undermine the notion of reading and evaluating books for their literary merit.' (Introduction)

1 Loss and Dislocation in a Brutal World Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8-9 September 2012; (p. 18-19)

— Review of Into That Forest Louis Nowra , 2012 single work novel
1 UntitledReview : The Ink Bridge Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Winter vol. 20 no. 2 2012; (p. 34-35)

— Review of The Ink Bridge Neil Grant , 2012 single work novel
1 New Young Adult Fiction Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 July 2012; (p. 23)

— Review of Holier Than Thou Laura Buzo , 2012 single work novel ; The Ink Bridge Neil Grant , 2012 single work novel ; Grace Beside Me Sue McPherson , 2012 single work novel
1 Untitled Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Autumn vol. 20 no. 1 2012; (p. 6-7)

— Review of The Mysterious World of Marcus Leadbeater Ivan Southall , 1990 single work novel
1 Narratives of a Very Different Migrant Story Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2-3 April 2011; (p. 20-21)

— Review of Those Who Come After Elisabeth Holdsworth , 2011 single work novel
1 [Review] Graffiti Moon Agnes Nieuwenhuizen , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 25 no. 4 2010; (p. 40)

— Review of Graffiti Moon Cath Crowley , 2010 single work novel
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