AWW23: An Australian Publishing Icon - Hilary McPhee

Published: March 26, 2023, 11:08 p.m.

Chair: Anne Summers

Hilary McPhee, together with her business partner Di Gribble, established Australia’s first woman-owned publishing house in 1975. For over two decades, McPhee discovered new writers who are now revered as greats of the Australian literary canon, including Helen Garner, Tim Winton and Drusilla Modjeska. Monkey Grip, Puberty Blues and Cloudstreet are just some of the books this Grand Dame of Australian letters nurtured into being. In this insightful conversation, McPhee talks about those halcyon days, her friend the late Carmen Callil and the state of modern publishing.

Event details: Mon 06 Mar, 2:30pm on the East Stage