Michele Field

Michele Field (1942–2020) was an American-born writer, editor, and scholar who lived and worked in Australia in the seventies and early eighties. Having completed her doctorate on Jorge Luis Borges, Field moved to London where she was a regular correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and wrote columns for the Times Literary Supplement and Weekend Australian. She acted as a cultural ambassador of sorts in London, both as a representative for the Australia Council and as a local informant for Leo Schofield when the latter began his directorship of the Sydney Festival in 1998. With Timothy Willett, she co-edited Convict love tokens : the leaden hearts the convicts left behind (1998).

Soundings | ‘A bind of judgements’ by Michele Field

August 1980, no. 23 • 01 January 1980

… He that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him. And makes me poor indeed. ... (read more)

Michele Field reviews 'The Australian and New Zealand Writers Handbook (2nd Edition) edited by Joan Clarke

April 1980, no. 19 • 01 January 1980

The greatest area of growth in the writing profession is among the group that used to be scurrilously called ‘hobby writers’. A recent study of British authors reveals that fifty-nine per cent will write only one book in their writing careers. ... (read more)

Soundings column | Michele Field on the literary prize

October 1980, no. 25 • 16 September 2022

American authors and publishers like to choose sides. The adversaries are seldom strictly Authors v Publishers – some best-selling novelists often join the publishers’ team, and publishers of new fiction like Farrar, Straus & Giroux line up on the authors’ side. Last May the battleground was drawn again in the national Book Awards (that’s not the old capital-N National Book Awards, or ... (read more)

Soundings column | 'The diplomacy of literature' by Michele Field

February–March 1980, no. 18 • 01 February 1980

‘Go, little book,’ or the book as emissary, is not the simple matter that it once was. Australian books and their authors now go to most European and Asian countries on diplomatic duties. The purpose is neither to broaden the writers’ lives nor to sell books abroad, but to supplement the Government’s other diplomatic initiatives. ... (read more)