Helen Garner (1942–) is an Australian novelist and non-fiction writer. Garner’s first novel, Monkey Grip, was published in 1977 and was adapted for film in 1981. Since then she has written many works of fiction, including The Children’s Bach (1984), Cosmo Cosmolino (1992), and The Spare Room (2008), as well as non-fiction, including The First Stone (1995), Joe Cinque’s Consolation (2004), and most recently The House of Grief (2014). She has won numerous literary awards and in 2006 she won the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature.

Helen Garner

Reading Australia

Bernadette Brennan has written about The Children's Bach (1984) as part of the Reading Australia initiative. Click here to read her essay.

Further reading and links

Reading Australia teaching resource: The Children's Bach (1984)

Peter Rose reviews Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004) in the September 2004 issue of ABR

Peter Rose reviews The Spare Room (2008) in the May 2008 issue of ABR

Felicity Plunkett reviews This House of Grief (2014) in the September 2014 issue of ABR

Jennifer Byrne interviews Helen Garner for The Book Club (aired 23/09/2014)

'Helen Garner visits the dark side of humanity'. Interview with Jennifer Byrne for ABC's Big Ideas (published 8/3/2010)

'A Pleasant Discord'. Kathryn Kramer reviews The Children's Bach and Postcards from Surfers in the New York Times, 7 December, 1986