Dr Shirley Walker
Dr Shirley Walker is a Research Fellow in the School of English, Communication and Theatre Studies at the University of New England and was for four years Director of that University's Centre for Australian Language and Literature Studies.She is also a Past President of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature.
Included in her many publications on Australian writers are the following with specific reference to Judith Wright: The Poetry of Judith Wright: A Search for Unity, Edward Arnold, Melbourne, 1980. Judith Wright (Australian Bibliographies Series), Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1981. Flame and Shadow: A Study of Judith Wright's Poetry, (an updated version of the Edward Arnold text), UQP, St Lucia, 1991. 'Judith Wright: Deconstructing the Poetic Tradition' (on Wright's later poetry) in Vanishing Edens: Responses to Australia in the Works of Mary Gilmore, Judith Wright and Dorothy Hewett , Foundation for Australian Literary Studies, James Cook University, 1992.
After her retirement Shirley presented an annual course on Australian Women Writers for the University of Oviedo (Spain) for six years. She regularly reviews for Australian Book Review and is to deliver the MacDermott Lecture on Australian Literature at the University of Barcelona in November 2008. Her latest book-length publication is a memoir: Roundabout at Bangalow: An Intimate Chronicle, UQP, St Lucia, 2001.
Shirley Walker now lives in the hinterland behind Byron Bay, between the sea and the escarpment, and finds that very conducive for writing.
