Vale Thea Astley (1925-2004)

As we were finalising this issue, word reached us of the sudden death of Thea Astley, just a fortnight after she had entertained an audience at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival. Ms Astley’s publications, distinctions and awards are too many to list here other than in summary form. Girl with a Monkey (1958) was the first of fourteen novels, culminating in Drylands (1999), which won Ms Astley her fourth Miles Franklin Award. She was a bracing satirist and moralist, with a wholly original prose style and a tenacious commitment to the art of fiction, even during much less propitious decades. None of her books made it into 50 Books You Must Own (about which literary agent Jenny Darling has a thing or two to say in her letter on page 4), but happily many of her titles are still in print.