Amy Witting

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Amy Witting
Born Joan Austral Fraser
26 January 1918
Flag of Australia Sydney, New South Wales
Died 18 September 2001
Sydney
Cause of death cancer
Other names De Guesclin, Joan Austral Levick
Occupation Novelist and poet
Spouse Les Levick
Children Gregory Levick
Website
Amy Witting website


Amy Witting (26 January 1918 — 18 September 2001) was the pen name of an Australian novelist and poet born Joan Austral Fraser[1]

Amy Witting was born in the Sydney suburb of Annandale, New South Wales. She studied languages at the University of Sydney where she met, among others, James McAuley, Harold Stewart and Dorothy Auchterlonie.[2] Subsequently she gained a Diploma of Education at Teachers College and became a school teacher.

On 28 July 1934, when Witting was 16, one of her poems, written under the pseudonym De Guesclin, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald .[1] Witting always wrote under a pseudonym. Her name, Amy Witting, is from a promise she made to herself to,

'never give up on consciousness', not be unwitting, but to always remain 'witting'.[2]

For most of her working life, teaching and making a living took priority and writing was done only in her spare time.[1] While working at Cheltenham Girls High, Thea Astley, already an established writer, was impressed by one of her stories, Goodbye, Ady, Goodbye, Joe, and encouraged her to submit it for publication.[2] It was published in The New Yorker in April 1965.

Witting's success came late in life when, in retirement, she could spend more time on her writing. With the publication of her novel,I for Isobel, her talent was recognised.

Witting's work has been acknowledged with a Patrick White Award (1993) and the 2000 The Age Book of the Year Award Fiction Prize. I for Isobel was short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award in 1990 and Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop was shortlisted for the same award in 2000.

Witting married Les Levick in 1948. She continued to write until her death and died a few weeks after the publication of After Cynthia, her last novel, in 2001.

In 2002 Witting was posthumously awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM0 for, "service to Australian literature as a novelist, poet and short story writer, and as a mentor to younger writers".[3]

[edit] Bibliography

Novels

Short story collections

  • Marriages (1990)
  • Faces and Voices (2000)

Poetry

  • Travel Diary (1985)
  • Beauty is the Straw (1991)
  • Collected Poems (1998)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Wmy Witting website. National Library of Australia, Pandora database. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  2. ^ a b c An introduction to the life and work of Amy Witting: Australian realist fiction writer and poet. Flinders University. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
  3. ^ It's an Honour. Australian Government. Retrieved on 2007-07-14.

[edit] References


Persondata
NAME Witting, Amy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Joan Levick nèe Fraser (real name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Australian novelist and poet
DATE OF BIRTH 26 January 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Annandale, New South Wales, Australia
DATE OF DEATH 18 September 2001
PLACE OF DEATH Australia
Languages