Their Brilliant Careers

The fantastic lives of sixteen extraordinary Australian writers.

A work of remarkable scholarship from one of the foremost literary biographers of our time, Their Brilliant Careers is an enthralling and magisterial study of the lives of sixteen neglected Australian writers.

In these impeccably researched mini-biographies, Ryan O’Neill portrays the greatest fools, geniuses, liars and lunatics of Australian letters from the last hundred and fifty years.

Among the authors whose lives are skilfully chronicled are Rand Washington, bestselling science fiction writer and fascist; Addison Tiller, master of the bush yarn; and the Antipodean Agatha Christie, Dame Claudia Gunn. Taken together, these insightful portraits of forgotten writers create nothing less than a shadow history of Australian literature.

An absurd, addictive, highly original book about books.

WINNER: Australian PM's Award for Fiction

SHORTLISTED: Miles Franklin Literary Award

Viata fantastica a saisprezece scriitori australieni extraordinari. O lucrare de remarcabila stiinta de la unul dintre cei mai importanti biografi literari din vremea noastra, Their Brilliant Careers este un studiu captivant si magistral asupra vietii a saisprezece scriitori australieni neglijati. In aceste mini-biografii impecabil cercetate, Ryan O'Neill ii infatiseaza pe cei mai mari prosti. , genii, mincinosi si nebuni ai scrisorilor australiene din ultimii sute cincizeci de ani. Printre autorii ale caror vieti sunt cronicizate cu pricepere sunt Rand Washington, cel mai bine vandut scriitor de science fiction si fascist; Addison Tiller, stapanul firelor de tufis; si antipodeanul Agatha Christie, Dame Claudia Gunn.