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When Charmian Clift returned to Australia with her husband George Johnston and their children, they left behind a creative Greek idyll and returned to suburban Sydney at a time of social upheaval.

Charmian threw herself into her weekly column on the women’s pages of a major newspaper and used it to question whether the country had changed as much as people claimed it had during their absence.  Seeing herself as both a migrant and returning expat gave her a unique outsider perspective. She soon developed a huge following for her opinions on everything from the war in Vietnam to the wearing of hats.

Her biographer Nadia Wheatley talks to Caroline Baum about how Charmian adjusted to suburbia and how she used her own lived experience and distinctive personal voice to connect with her readers.

When Charmian Clift returned to Australia with her husband George Johnston and their children, they left behind a creative Greek idyll and returned to suburban Sydney at a time of social upheaval.
Charmian threw herself into her weekly column on the women’s pages of a major newspaper and used it to question whether the country had changed as much as people claimed it had during their absence.  Seeing herself as both a migrant and returning expat gave her a unique outsider perspective. She soon developed a huge following for her opinions on everything from the war in Vietnam to the wearing of hats.
Her biographer Nadia Wheatley talks to Caroline Baum about how Charmian adjusted to suburbia and how she used her own lived experience and distinctive personal voice to connect with her readers.

What is the secret to writing a really juicy biography? Author Caroline Baum interviews seasoned players and persistent newcomers who share their experience of navigating sensitive territory in the search for the real story behind a person’s life. Whether they are writing about the famous or the forgotten, whether their version of events is authorised or
unauthorised, biography is a high-stakes quest full of twists and turns.

What is the secret to writing a really juicy biography? Author Caroline Baum interviews seasoned players and persistent newcomers who share their experience of navigating sensitive territory in the search for the real story behind a person&rsquo;s life. Whether they are writing about the famous or the forgotten, whether their version of events is authorised or unauthorised, biography is a high-stakes quest full of twists and turns.

Life Sentences Podcast

What is the secret to writing a really juicy biography? Author Caroline Baum interviewsseasoned players and persistent newcomers who share their experience of navigating sensitive territory in the search for the real story behind a person’s life. Whether they are writing about the famous or the forgotten, whether their version of events is authorised or unauthorised, biography is a high-stakes quest full of twists and turns.

What is the secret to writing a really juicy biography? Author Caroline Baum interviewsseasoned players and persistent newcomers who share their experience of navigating sensitive territory in the search for the real story behind a person&rsquo;s life. Whether they are writing about the famous or the forgotten, whether their version of events is authorised or unauthorised, biography is a high-stakes quest full of twists and turns.

Life Sentences

Suburban Bohemia

This content is from BIO, The US based Biographers International Organisation, which promotes and champions the practice of biography to writers and readers.



You can read more about BIO here:

https://biographersinternational.org/



In this episode award-winning biographer Jonathan Eig talks about why it was time, after more than three decades, for a new biography of Martin Luther King that explored his flawed humanity. 



Benefitting from the release of previously unavailable documents from the White House and the FBI, this is a biography of King written for the generation that came of age with Black Lives Matter, that may know little of King and his dream.

This content is from BIO, The US based Biographers International Organisation, which promotes and champions the practice of biography to writers and readers.
 
You can read more about BIO here:
<a href="https://biographersinternational.org/">https://biographersinternational.org/</a>
 
In this episode award-winning biographer Jonathan Eig talks about why it was time, after more than three decades, for a new biography of Martin Luther King that explored his flawed humanity. 
 
Benefitting from the release of previously unavailable documents from the White House and the FBI, this is a biography of King written for the generation that came of age with Black Lives Matter, that may know little of King and his dream.

After The Dream

Historian Kate Fullagar tells the story of the intertwined destinies of Governor Phillip and First Nations leader Bennelong, beginning with their deaths and spooling gradually back to their first encounter.



This bold, unconventional approach allows for a wider lens and different perspective on their respective personalities and achievements, and on the events which brought them together at a time when Britain’s colonial ambitions were to shape Australia for the next century.



Understanding, misunderstanding, conflict and a remarkable journey together to Britain give this double-headed biography a compelling and sometimes poignant narrative.



Life Sentences is produced by David Roach for Two Heads Media and edited by Kirra Jordan for PipeWolf Media. We live and work on Dharawal country and pay our respects to elders past and present. Music is composed and performed by Amanda Brown.

Historian Kate Fullagar tells the story of the intertwined destinies of Governor Phillip and First Nations leader Bennelong, beginning with their deaths and spooling gradually back to their first encounter.
 
This bold, unconventional approach allows for a wider lens and different perspective on their respective personalities and achievements, and on the events which brought them together at a time when Britain’s colonial ambitions were to shape Australia for the next century.
 
Understanding, misunderstanding, conflict and a remarkable journey together to Britain give this double-headed biography a compelling and sometimes poignant narrative.
 
Life Sentences is produced by David Roach for Two Heads Media and edited by Kirra Jordan for PipeWolf Media. We live and work on Dharawal country and pay our respects to elders past and present. Music is composed and performed by Amanda Brown.

Biography Backwards

An elegant Trotskyist, Michael Pablo grew up in Greece to become an urbane revolutionary, who made his presence felt at many of the most significant uprisings of the 20th century in an attempt to build what he called self-managed socialism.



Partnered by his dynamic and fearless wife Elli Dyovoumoti, Pablo was often in great danger, spent time in prison, and made enemies among fellow socialists. But when it came to the Algerian uprising of 1962 against the French, he rolled up his intellectual sleeves and got his hands dirty, helping the Algerians to arm themselves by setting up a gun factory. The story of this venture is worth a movie in its own right.



Clashing with Castro, supporting Solidarity in Poland, Pablo was an influential force without ever becoming a leader. He was ahead of his time in his support for fully-fledged feminism and maintained a strong circle of friends throughout his life.



Hall Greenland’s biography, The Well-Dressed Revolutionary, is an admiring portrait of a man and a time when socially progressive ideas had real momentum and it felt as if the world were tilting towards a raised consciousness on equality and human rights.

An elegant Trotskyist, Michael Pablo grew up in Greece to become an urbane revolutionary, who made his presence felt at many of the most significant uprisings of the 20th century in an attempt to build what he called self-managed socialism.
 
Partnered by his dynamic and fearless wife Elli Dyovoumoti, Pablo was often in great danger, spent time in prison, and made enemies among fellow socialists. But when it came to the Algerian uprising of 1962 against the French, he rolled up his intellectual sleeves and got his hands dirty, helping the Algerians to arm themselves by setting up a gun factory. The story of this venture is worth a movie in its own right.
 
Clashing with Castro, supporting Solidarity in Poland, Pablo was an influential force without ever becoming a leader. He was ahead of his time in his support for fully-fledged feminism and maintained a strong circle of friends throughout his life.
 
Hall Greenland’s biography, The Well-Dressed Revolutionary, is an admiring portrait of a man and a time when socially progressive ideas had real momentum and it felt as if the world were tilting towards a raised consciousness on equality and human rights.

Suburban Bohemia

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