Beverley Farmer

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Contents

[edit] Biography

Beverley Farmer (a.k.a. Beverley Anne Farmer, Beverly Farmer, B. Christou) is an Australian writer who was born on February 7 1941 in Melbourne. She was educated at MacRobertson Girls’ High School and the University of Melbourne where she graduated with a BA in 1960.

She has worked in various jobs, mainly teaching and waitressing. She married a Greek migrant, Christos Talihmanidis, in 1965. They were married for thirteen years, three of which were spent in Greece. They returned to Australia for their son to be born in 1972.

Best known for her novels and short stories, Farmer has also written essays, poetry, reviews and criticism. Her writing has been published in several magazines, journals and newspapers, including Overland, Westerly, Meanjin, Island Magazine, and The Bulletin.

Loss features as a central theme in Farmer’s stories. She has described it as the ‘touchstone’ of her work. (1) The ‘experience of being foreign’ is also a favourite subject.(2)

Her novel The House in the Light (1995) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 1996.

[edit] Selected Works

[edit] Short Story Anthologies

  • Milk (1983)
  • Home Time (1985)
  • Collected Stories (1986)

[edit] Novels

  • Alone (1980)
  • The Seal Woman (1992)
  • The House in the Light (1995)

[edit] Other

  • A Body of Water: A Year’s Notebook (1990)

[edit] References

(1) Farmer, Beverley. “Preoccupations”. ALS 14 (1990): 390-92 at 390.
(2) Hergenhan, Laurie. ed. The Australian Short Story. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2002 at 413.