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Literature and writing

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Collection guide
McLaren Collection

About 3,460 books and pamphlets, mostly local, church, business and organisational histories from around Australia.

Collection guide
An open notebook with handwritten text in black ink

Handwritten manuscript for Old Blastus of Bandicoot from the Papers of Miles Franklin 1887-[ca. 1931], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-229628535

National Library releases out-of-copyright works

Explore items in the National Library’s collection that enter the public domain this year, including the unpublished works of Miles Franklin and Chester Wilmot.

News article
Collection guide
Whelan Collection

Discover the Whelan Collection, a remarkable archive of Australian literature with over 1,000 autographed books, manuscripts, and letters from 1892 to 1967. Collected by bibliophile Philip Whelan, it offers a rare glimpse into Australia’s rich storytelling heritage and vibrant literary culture.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Australian Literature Society Collection

Explore Australia's literary heritage with the Australian Literature Society Collection. Home to over 500 works, including novels, verse, and essays, it showcases iconic authors like Patrick White, Joseph Furphy, and Kylie Tennant. Founded in 1899, this collection highlights the society's crucial role in shaping Australia’s vibrant literary tradition.

Collection guide
Zoe Smith, an NLA Scholar, sitting at a table in the Main Reading Room with a pile of books and smiling

2024 National Library Scholar Zoe Smith in the Main Reading Room

Uncovering the voices that shaped cultural understandings of domestic violence

Learn about the research of 2024 National Library Scholar Zoe Smith and what she found during her time at the Library.

Blog
Collection guide
White Collection

Personal papers of Patrick White, plus letters from White to other Australian writers acquired as part of their papers. Also papers of White's biographer David Marr and those of the artist and theatre designer Desmond Digby who had a long friendship with White.

Collection guide
Four photographs of people smiling. Two of the photographs are of women and two are of men.
Memory to manuscript: Publishing family stories

Authors Tess Scholfield-Peters, André Dao and Sam Vincent, in conversation with broadcast journalist Virginia Haussegger

Event
Video
The front pages of two different Turkish language newspapers.

Left: Kaynak : the Australian Turkish source : independent Turkish newspaper, 15 February 1984, page 1, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1031341. Right: Kimligimiz icin dusunce, August 1989, page 1, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2206702

Turkish-Australian transnational life writing with Dr Burcu Cevik-Compiegne

Dr Burcu Cevik-Compiegne presented a lecture on her 2024 National Library Fellowship research into uncovering different forms of life writing produced in Australia following the Labour Migration Scheme between Turkey and Australia in 1967.

Event
Video
Two women looking down at something out of frame. One is wearing a pink shirt and one is wearing a blue shirt.

Helen Garner and Drusilla Modjeska, image courtesy of Drusilla Modjeska.

Mining Modjeska’s archive with Dr Bernadette Brennan

Dr Bernadette Brennan presented a lecture on her 2024 National Library Fellowship research into the archives of award-winning author and editor Drusilla Modjeska.

Event
Video
bronze cast of Henry Lawson's hand

Nelson Illingworth, Cast of Henry Lawson's hand, ca. 1922 [realia], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-139632985

The poet of Australia

Topic

Henry Lawson is celebrated as one of Australia’s greatest poets. The Library’s collection of Henry Lawson realia helps contemporary Australians understand Lawson’s popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

Digital Classroom
Book cover with blue text reading 'The Snow Wombat' and an illustration of a wombat walking through snow on a bright cloudless day

Susannah Chambers, The snow wombat, 2016, nla.cat-vn7049949

What to read this winter

Get some winter book recommendations to suit all reading moods.

Blog
Smiling woman with short black hair and a fringe sitting at a table where several black and white photos of a woman are spread out
Researching a biography of scriptwriter and playwright Eleanor Witcombe

Learn about the fascinating career of Eleanor Witcombe with 2023 National Library Fellow and biographer Eleanor Hogan.

Blog

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