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The Political is Personal: A Twentieth Century Memoir by Judith Buckrich | Lauranton Books 2016

AU$40.00 (incl. postage and handling)

‘The Political is Personal is an inspiring memoir of a life lived to the full, epic in scope, tempered by an acute political awareness, driven by a hunger for knowledge and experience, and crafted with the skill of a seasoned writer. Judy Buckrich deftly interweaves the historical and the momentary, and writes of complex matters with great clarity. The narrative carries the reader effortlessly through some of the twentieth century’s most harrowing, and significant moments—war, revolution, migration, political movements, and personal journeys are all part of the tapestry—the result is a riveting memoir that both informs and energises, and carries the reader through tumultuous times. The photos work in harmony with the text, and integrate the historical and the intimate. Buckrich is typically direct and frank in writing of her own adventurous life. The women’s movement and sexual politics take centre stage—alongside sharp observations of the challenges of the writing life. The achievement of this book is a promise fulfilled—the personal is indeed viewed against a far bigger canvas, yet throughout, the political is always reflected in the life-story—and always achingly human.’ – Arnold Zable, Acclaimed writer, novelist and human rights advocate.





Rusden Book Cover

The Making of Us: Rusden Drama, Media and Dance by Judith Buckrich  | Lauranton Books 2016

AU$60.00 (incl. postage and handling)

This is Judith Buckrich’s account of an extraordinary tertiary institution that, for a short while, provided its students with a grounding for not just a career but a life in creativity.





Book cover for The Heart's Ground

The Heart’s Ground: A life of Anne Elder by Julia Hamer | Lauranton Books 2018

 AU$50.00 (incl. postage and handling)

The name Anne Elder (1918-1976) endures because of the poetry prize awarded annually in her name over the past forty years. However, little is known about Elder herself despite her many achievements, firstly as a soloist with the Borovansky Ballet, the forerunner of the Australian Ballet, and later as a poet. This lack of recognition, so typical for women of her generation, is set to be rectified by the publication of The Heart’s Ground: A Life of Anne Elder by her niece Julia Hamer.

Elder was talented in whatever field of the arts she turned to: dance, writing, drawing, and music. She was a fascinating character, a brilliant talker, with an unusual sense of humour, keen imagination, a person who soaked up the details of experience, an iconoclastic thinker, and capable of great tenderness. She was also a person of contradictions, capable of lashing out when angry, sensitive to criticism, her individualism sitting alongside some conservative opinions.

This finely wrought biography is rich in historical detail as it draws on four generations of letters and diaries and more recently on critical commentary and recollections.





Book Cover for The Bright and the Cold

The Bright and the Cold: Selected poems of Anne Elder compiled by Catherine Elder  | Lauranton Books 2018

 AU$35.00 (incl. postage and handling)

The name Anne Elder (1918-1976) endures because of the poetry prize awarded annually in her name over the past forty years. However, little is known about Elder herself despite her many achievements, firstly as a soloist with the Borovansky Ballet, the forerunner of the Australian Ballet, and later as a poet.

One of the reasons for Elder’s neglect, according to fellow poet and friend Graham Rowlands, was that nearly all of the poems that would subsequently be published were written in one short burst, from 1967 to 1971, after which her deteriorating health had made writing difficult.

Elder’s first collection of poetry, For the Record, was published by Hawthorn Press in 1972 and the second collection, Crazy Woman and Other Poems, was published by Angus & Robertson in 1976, not long after her death at the age of 58. It was highly commended in the National Book Council awards in 1977. Her poems were also published in a wide range of magazines and journals, including Meanjin, Overland, Southerly and Westerly, and newspapers such as The Age and The Australian.

The Bright and the Cold: Selected Poems of Anne Elder captures the extraordinary range and vibrancy of her poetry and includes a number of poems that did not appear in either of her previous collections.





Book cover for The Heart's Ground Book Cover for The Bright and the Cold
BUNDLE: The Heart’s Ground: A life of Anne Elder by Julia Hamer and The Bright and the Cold: Selected poems of Anne Elder by Catherine Elder| Lauranton Books 2018

AU$70.00 (incl. postage and handling)