Overview

'Writers, their friends, enemies, editors, and publishers began to materialise out of the library's archive boxes, and I found myself setting off in search of these elusive, eccentric, and often quarrelsome characters.' 'Writers, their friends, enemies, editors, and publishers began to materialise out of the library's archive boxes, and I found myself setting off in search of these elusive, eccentric, and often quarrelsome characters.' With his unique and entertaining blend of memoir, biography, and literary detective work, Craig Munro recreates the lives and careers of a group of renowned Australian editors and their authors in a narrative spanning from the 1890s to the 1990s. Among those encountered on the journey are A.G. Stephens, who helped turn foundry worker Joseph Furphy's thousand-page handwritten manuscript into the enduring classic Such Is Life; P.R. Stephensen, who tangled with an irascible Xavier Herbert to tame his unwieldy masterpiece Capricornia; Beatrice Davis, whose literary soirees were the talk of Sydney, and who insisted Herbert cut his controversial novel Soldiers' Women in half; and award-winning fiction editor Rosanne Fitzgibbon, who championed the work of many authors, including the prodigiously talented Gillian Mears. Throughout it all, in beguiling and elegant style, Craig Munro weaves his own reminiscences of a life in publishing while tracking down some of Australian literature's most fascinating stories. Literary Lion Tamers is a delight for anyone interested in the world of books and those who create them. 'With an editor's steady hand on the wheel, Munro steers us down the highways, byways, culs-de-sac and conduits of Australian literary publishing history. Personal, funny, moving and informative - it's an exhilarating ride.' -Sylvia Martin, author of Ink in Her Veins 'Here are the unsung minds of our remarkable book culture.' -Frank Moorhouse 'Patrick White once lamented the impression that Australian literature was the dreary, dun-coloured offspring of journalistic realism. In this entertaining and delightful book, Craig Munro shows that Australian literature is bursting with colour and energy. He traces a rich literary history that is quirky, brave, petty, and grand. Through his circus tread lions, clowns, and elephants- writers wielding tatty but brilliant manuscripts, patient editors with blue pencils and eyes for the eccentric, and ragtag publishers with outsized ambitions. This is a charming, well-written, and exciting tale about the stories that are with us still.' -Patrick Mullins, author of The Trials of Portnoy

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9781925713220

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Craig Munro is an award-winning biographer and the founding chair of the Queensland Writers Centre. As the inaugural fiction editor at the University of Queensland Press, and later as publishing manager, he worked with many emerging writers who have since become celebrated authors. Craig won the Barbara Ramsden Award for editing in 1985, and studied book publishing in Canada and the United States on a Churchill Fellowship in 1991. His previous books include Paper Empires- a history of the book in Australia, 1946-2005 (co-edited with Robyn Sheahan-Bright) and Under Cover- adventures in the art of editing.

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