Jean Bedford
Encyclopedia
Jean Bedford is an English-born Australian writer who is best known for her crime fiction, but who has also written novels and short stories, as well as nonfiction. She is also an editor and journalist, and has taught creative writing in several universities for over 20 years.
, England and came to Australia as an infant. She grew up in country Victoria on the Mornington Peninsula
. She undertook her Bachelor of Arts degree at Monash University
and then studied Teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Papua New Guinea
where she had gone with her first husband.
After the failure of her this marriage, she returned to Australia and worked first at the Canberra College of Advanced Education
. She married writer Peter Corris
, with whom she has three daughters. One of their daughters, Sofya Gollan, is an actress who is also deaf.
Bedford and Corris live in the Illawarra
region on the south coast of New South Wales. She includes Australian writers Gabrielle Lord
and Helen Garner
among her friends.
Bedford has had a varied career. In addition to writing, she has worked as a teacher, journalist, editor and publisher, and has lectured in creative writing at several universities. Her literary career has included being literary editor for the National Times and a literary consultant for the Australian Film Commission
.
. Her first book was Country Girl Again, published by Sisters
in 1979.
Her first novel, Sister Kate, explores the Ned Kelly
legend from the point of view of Ned's sister, Kate. Bedford says she was inspired to write it after reading the American novel Desperadoes which she felt dealt with national myth in a way that Australian writers didn't. The book was well-received and regularly appears on school syllabi in Australia. By the time it was published she was at Stanford University
on the Australian Stanford Writers Fellowship.
Her second novel Love Child, published in 1986, explores, she says, "the difference between a romantic passion and real love that has to involve real generosity and a real understanding of what the other person is, and what they want".
Bedford includes Patrick White
and D. H. Lawrence
as her early literary influences, and also admires Frank Moorhouse
.
She has published 10 books of fiction, including 3 detective novels and a thriller. She has also edited several collections of fiction and non-fiction. Her short stories have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies.
Bedford has been a judge for many awards, including The Australian/Vogel Literary Award
.
, "experimented with narrative form to find ways to tell women's stories".
Her collection of short stories, Country Girl, Again "paints a bleak, unillusioned picture of rural life and its stifling or destructive effects on the lives of women". Similarly, Colouring In, a collaborative work, also explores women's lives, this time looking at "the pleasures and pressures of urban life".
Bedford's crime and historical novels too focus on women and their experience. Sister Kate, her novel imagining the life of Ned Kelly
' sister, provides a feminist perspective on a legend which until then had been almost totally expressed in terms of male mythology, and If With a Beating Heart is about "the turbulent life" of Claire Claremont, who was stepsister to Mary Shelley
and lover to Lord Byron.
Life
Bedford was born in CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England and came to Australia as an infant. She grew up in country Victoria on the Mornington Peninsula
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...
. She undertook her Bachelor of Arts degree at Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
and then studied Teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Papua New Guinea
University of Papua New Guinea
The University of Papua New Guinea was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired into higher education in Papua New Guinea...
where she had gone with her first husband.
After the failure of her this marriage, she returned to Australia and worked first at the Canberra College of Advanced Education
University of Canberra
Over the years the Stone Day program has gradually become larger and larger, taking up a whole week and now Stonefest is one of Australia's most popular music festivals. The first foundation celebrations were held in 1971. In 1973 Stone Day celebrations were held over two days, which was expanded...
. She married writer Peter Corris
Peter Corris
Peter Robert Corris is an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical and crime fiction...
, with whom she has three daughters. One of their daughters, Sofya Gollan, is an actress who is also deaf.
Bedford and Corris live in the Illawarra
Illawarra
Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...
region on the south coast of New South Wales. She includes Australian writers Gabrielle Lord
Gabrielle Lord
Gabrielle Craig Lord is an Australian writer who has been described as Australia's first lady of crime. She has published a wide range of writing including reviews, articles, short stories and non-fiction, but she is best known for her psychological thrillers.-Life:Lord was born in Sydney...
and Helen Garner
Helen Garner
Helen Garner is an award-winning Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist.-Life:Garner was born in Geelong, Victoria, the eldest of six children. She attended Manifold Heights State School, Ocean Grove State School and then The Hermitage in Geelong...
among her friends.
Bedford has had a varied career. In addition to writing, she has worked as a teacher, journalist, editor and publisher, and has lectured in creative writing at several universities. Her literary career has included being literary editor for the National Times and a literary consultant for the Australian Film Commission
Australian Film Commission
The Australian Film Commission was an Australian government agency with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a production arm responsible for production and commissioning of films for government...
.
Writing career
Bedford says that she first started to think of writing seriously when she worked at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. Her first writings, short stories, were published in the Nation ReviewNation Review
Nation Reviewwas an Australian Sunday newspaper, which ceased publication in 1981. It was launched in 1970 after independent publisher Gordon Barton bought out Tom Fitzgerald's Nation publication and merged it with his own Sunday Review journal...
. Her first book was Country Girl Again, published by Sisters
Sisters
Sisters are female siblings.Sisters or The Sisters may also refer to:* More than one nun-Film:* The Sisters , starring Lillian Gish* Sisters , starring Molly O'Day...
in 1979.
Her first novel, Sister Kate, explores the Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
legend from the point of view of Ned's sister, Kate. Bedford says she was inspired to write it after reading the American novel Desperadoes which she felt dealt with national myth in a way that Australian writers didn't. The book was well-received and regularly appears on school syllabi in Australia. By the time it was published she was at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
on the Australian Stanford Writers Fellowship.
Her second novel Love Child, published in 1986, explores, she says, "the difference between a romantic passion and real love that has to involve real generosity and a real understanding of what the other person is, and what they want".
Bedford includes Patrick White
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
and D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
as her early literary influences, and also admires Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse is an acclaimed Australian writer with a growing international reputation. He has won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing....
.
She has published 10 books of fiction, including 3 detective novels and a thriller. She has also edited several collections of fiction and non-fiction. Her short stories have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies.
Bedford has been a judge for many awards, including The Australian/Vogel Literary Award
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award is an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money, currently A$20,000, is the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in Australia...
.
Themes and subject matter
In an interview with Jennifer Ellison, Bedford said that "You want to do more than just tell a story. You want to tell the truth, and the way you see the truth is very political, always. I hope that my politics some out in what I choose to write about." Bedford's truth often relates to the lives of women, and the ways in which they can be trapped. She was part of a new wave of contemporary women writers in the 1980s who, with the support of both independent and mainstream publishing houses like McPhee Gribble and Penguin BooksPenguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, "experimented with narrative form to find ways to tell women's stories".
Her collection of short stories, Country Girl, Again "paints a bleak, unillusioned picture of rural life and its stifling or destructive effects on the lives of women". Similarly, Colouring In, a collaborative work, also explores women's lives, this time looking at "the pleasures and pressures of urban life".
Bedford's crime and historical novels too focus on women and their experience. Sister Kate, her novel imagining the life of Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
' sister, provides a feminist perspective on a legend which until then had been almost totally expressed in terms of male mythology, and If With a Beating Heart is about "the turbulent life" of Claire Claremont, who was stepsister to Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
and lover to Lord Byron.
Works
- Country Girl Again (1979, collection of short stories)
- Sister Kate (1982)
- Love Child (1986)
- Colouring In (1986, collection of short stories with Rosemary Cresswell)
- To Make a Killing (1990, Anna Southwood Mystery series)
- Worse than Death (1992, Anna Southwood Mystery series, with Tom Kelly)
- Signs of Murder (1993, Anna Southwood Mystery series)
- If with a Beating Heart (1993)
- Moonlight Becomes You (1996)
- Crime and Tide (1998, Brisbane River Mysteries)