Papers of Glenda Adams
MSS 076

Collection Description

The papers of Glenda Adams include correspondence, drafts of novels, short stories, dramas, articles, essays and posters.

Administrative / Biographical history

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenda_Adams

Glenda Adams was born in Ryde, Sydney in 1939. She attended Sydney Girl's High School, and then Sydney University where she studied Indonesian and Italian, graduating with a B.A. (honours) in 1962. She spent two years in Indonesia as a graduate student on a study tour before returning to teach Indonesian at Sydney University. In 1964 she moved to New York to study journalism at Columbia University, N.Y., graduating with an M.S. in 1965. She worked as an Associate Director of the Teachers and Writers Collaborative, N.Y., a nonprofit organisation that sent writers into New York City public schools to work with teachers to help improve children's writing skills through creative work; news writer on the radio desk at Associated Press, N.Y.; Press Officer at the United Nations; freelance writer/editor, Brussels and New York. From 1976 onwards she taught part-time fiction writing workshops at Columbia University, New York City; Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y.; and at Brooklyn College, MFA Program, City University of New York. In the 1980s she made periodic visits to Australia, during which she was writer-in-residence at the University of Adelaide (1980), University of Western Australia (1980), Macquarie University, Sydney (1981 and 1988) and the University of Technology, Sydney (1988). She returned to Sydney in 1990 to teach fiction writing at the University of Technology, Sydney. She was a member of the Australian Society of Authors and the Australian Writers Guild. Agent: Goodman Associates, 500 West End Ave, New York, N.Y. 10024., USA.

Adams publications included short stories, novels and plays. She published a number of short stories in the Bulletin, the Village voice, Harper's and the Transatlantic review before her first collection Lies and stories was published in 1976. She published her first novel Games of the strong in 1982 and won the Miles Franklin Award and the NSW State Premier's Award in 1987 for Dancing on coral. In 1998 Adams' first play Monkey trap, a well-received exploration of storytelling, was performed in Sydney.

Adams received the following awards for her work, including:
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Fellowship, Category A Fellowship, 1994 Note: Four years
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Fiction Fellowship, 1979, 1980-81, 1984 and 1986
NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1991: joint winner for Longleg
The Age Book of the Year Award, Imaginative Writing Prize, 1990: winner for Longleg
Miles Franklin Literary Award, 1987: winner for Dancing on coral
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 1987: winner for Dancing on coral.

Glenda Adams died in Sydney, New South Wales on Wednesday 11 July 2007.

References:
Glenda Adams curriculum vitae, July 1988
AustLit : the Resource for Australian Literature, July 2007
'Glenda Adams biography', Laurie Clancy http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4087/Adams-Glenda.html retrieved on 16 July 2007.

Acquisition Details

Scope and Content

This is a comprehensive collection which comprises papers relating to Glenda Adams' professional life. The collection consists of correspondence, research material, manuscript and typescript drafts, programs, talks, articles, essays and posters. The numerous drafts reflect Adams' meticulous method of reworking and refining her work, often over long periods of time.

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