Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Colin Roderick Memorial Lecture Previous Roderick Lectures

Previous Roderick Lectures

The Foundation for Australian Literary Studies runs an annual public lecture in memory of Professor Colin Roderick. The lecture is typically held in Winter each year and the public are encouraged to attend.

Previous speakers include:

2023 Jock Serong presents Historical Crime is Our One True Genre
2022 Sofie Laguna presents Why We Write
2021 Tony Birch in conversation with JCU's Dr Roger Osborne, What did you do in the boat’: the universality and cultural specificity of writing and story.
2020 Professor Henry Reynolds, Seeing Australian History from the North Down
2019 Bri Lee, How we keep pens mighty: Writing against power
2018 Alexis Wright, In Conversation with the author of Tracker
2017 Gail Jones, Bewilderment and Sticky Fingerprints: Our Other History
2016 Anna Goldsworthy, The Lost Art of Listening: an evening of music and conversation
2015 Joanna Murray-Smith, The Autobiographical Imagination: How whimsy, flights of fancy and fantasy are ignited by life
2014 Drusilla Modjeska, The Informed Imagination – Writing PNG: Land of Unlikeness
2012 Frank Moorhouse, Stories from the Archives:Creating the Edith Trilogy
2011 David Williamson, Dead White Males Revisited
2010 Peter Goldsworthy, The Film of the Book: Stories and their Mutations (included screening of a film of Goldsworthy’s short story,“The Kiss”)
2009 Peter Steele, Past, Present and Future: Poetryas the Mind in Love
2008 John Clanchy, Consolations of an Australian Writing Life
2007 Nicolas Rothwell, The language of nature and the language of man
2006 Graeme Blundell, Graeme on Graham (Kennedy)
2005 Robert Manne, The Strange Case of Cornelia Rau
2004 Alex Miller, Prophets of the Imagination, or,The Journey’s not over yet, old mate
2003 Don Watson, Death Sentence: the decay of public language
2002 Peter Rose, The Consolations of Biography
2001 Gabrielle Lord and Roger Johnson, Psychological Thrillers
2000 Raimond Gaita, Politics and Morality
1999 Peter Conrad, The Second Discovery of Australia
1998 Morag Fraser, Australia: Shadows and Substances
1997 Helen Garner, The Art of the Dumb Question
1996 Robert Jordan, Australia’s Early Convict Theatres
1995 Graeme Turner, Literature, Journalism and The Media
1994 Dennis Haskell, Australian Poetic Satire
1993 Helen Thomson, Bio-Fictions: Brian Matthews, Drusilla Modjeska and Elizabeth Jolley
1992 Michael Wilding, The Radical Tradition: Lawson, Furphy, Stead
1991 Dr Shirley Walker, Vanishing Edens … Mary Gilmore, Judith Wright and Dorothy Hewett
1990 W H (Bill) Wilde, The Search for Identity in Australian Biography
1989 Jennifer Strauss, 'Stop Laughing! I'm Being Serious', ... Contemporary Australian Poetry
1988 Julian Croft, The Federal and National Impulse in Australian Literature 1890-1958
1987 Dr Val Vallis, Heart Reasons, these...: Commentaries on Five Australian Poets
1986 Dr Brian Matthews, Romantics and Mavericks: The Australian Short Story
1985 Dorothy Green, The Writer, The Reader, and The Critic in a Monoculture
1984 Bruce Bennett, Place, Region and Community
1983 Professor A D Hope, Directions in Australian Poetry
1982 Les A Murray, Reflections of an Australian Poet
1981 Mark O'Connor, Modern Australian Styles
1980 Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Three Absences in Australian Writing
1979 Dr Stephen Murray-Smith, Books and the Man—A Literary Biography
1978 Thea Astley, Three Australian Writers
1977 Dr Elizabeth Perkins, Australian Drama Alive
1976 Dr Clement Semmler, Four Modern Writers
1975 Professor H P Heseltine, Acquainted with the Night
1974 M Xavier Pons, The Australian Short Story
1973 Dr L T Hergenhan, Australian Convict Literature
1972 Dr N Macainsh, The New Australian Poetry
1971 H G Kippax, Drama in Australia
1970 Professor Leonie Kramer, The Modern Australian Novel
1969 Doris Fitton, The Independent Theatre
1968 Professor J McAuley, The Personal Element in Australian Poetry
1967 Professor G A Wilkes, Novelists of Australia
1966 Rohan Rivett, Writing About Australia