The Beauties and the Furies

Christina Stead (1902-1983) was an Australian-born novelist and short-story writer, acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterizations. She lived in the US for many years, teaching at New York University in 1943 and 1944, and working as a Hollywood screenwriter in the 1940s. She returned to Australia only late in life. Her fourth work, The Man Who Loved Children, has been hailed as a ‘masterpiece’ by Jonathan Franzen, among others. Stead is considered one of the most influential Australian authors of the twentieth century.


Dr Lisa Gorton is a Rhodes Scholar and writer best known as an outstanding poet, winner of the inaugural Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize and the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal. The 2008 Victorian Premier’s Award for Poetry was awarded to her book Press Release. Her first novel, The Life of Houses, was published in 2015.