Blanche d'Alpuget

Blanche d'Alpuget is the author of seven books, including four novels-Monkeys in the Dark (1980), Turtle Beach (1981), Winter in Jerusalem (1986) and White Eye (1993). These works won a number of literary prizes including the PEN Golden Jublilee Award, The Age Novel of the Year Award, the South Australian Premier's Award and the Australasian Prize for Commonwealth Literature. D'Alpuget's Mediator: A Biography of Sir Richard Kirby was published in 1977 to critical acclaim. Robert J. Hawke: A Biography (1982) was both a national bestseller and the winner of several awards. After a long break, d'Alpuget returned to writing with a short work, On Longing, released in 2008. She has served on the boards of the ACT Arts Advisory Council, the Copyright Agency Ltd, the Australian Film Commission and has been the Chair of the Australian Society of Authors. As Austcare Goodwill Ambassador between 1992 and 1996 she wrote of the plight of refugees from Indochina, the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. She is a Patron of the Australia China Friendship Society in NSW and the Patron of Inala, a Rudolf Steiner organisation catering for people with severe disabilities. She lives in Sydney with her husband and son and a Rhodesian ridgeback.