Katharine Brisbane

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Katharine Brisbane AM (born 7 January 1932) is an Singaporean-born Australian journalist and publisher.

Early life

Katharine Brisbane was born in Singapore in 1932. She spent her early years growing up in Western Australia, living in Peppermint Grove.[1] Brisbane graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia. During her time at UWA she participated in student theatre, firstly designing costumes and then moving onto directing productions.

Career

After graduating she became a cadet at The West Australian, and spent 18 months in London. She took up the position of theatre critic for The West Australian from 1959 to 1961, and again from 1962 to 1965. This work provided her the platform she needed to become the national theatre critic for The Australian from 1967 to 1974. In this role, she was a part of the changing Australian drama of the new wave at the time and saw many new emerging Australian plays and playwrights. She documents these productions in her 2005 book Not Wrong: Just Different. She also wrote as the national theatre writer for The National Times from 1981-1982.

Brisbane founded Currency Press with her husband Philip Parsons in 1971 and it became the largest independent publishing company in Australia.[citation needed] The first play that Currency published was Macquarie, a 1972 play by Alex Buzo. In 1995, with Brisbane's continual backing, Currency published The Concise Companion to Australian Theatre (ed. Philip Parsons).

Brisbane's writings include contributions to The Literature of Australia, World Drama, Contemporary Australian Drama: Perspectives Since 1955, as well asNew Currents in Australian Writing, which she co-edited. She has also written introductions for many plays published by Currency Press.

Honours

In 1993 Brisbane was made a Member of the Order of Australia, 'In recognition of service to Australian drama, particularly as co-founder of Currency Press'. She was a JC Williamson award winner for 2012.

References

  1. ↑ De Burg, 1974. Katharine Brisbane Interview.
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