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Papers of Vicki Viidikas
MSS 096

Collection Title

Papers of Vicki Viidikas

Collection Identifier

MSS 096

Inclusive date(s)

1948 to 1998

Extent and Medium

18 boxes, 3 posters

Category

Literature

Subject: Person(s)

Collection Description

This collection comprises manuscript papers and related material produced or accumulated by Vicki Viidikas.

Administrative / Biographical history

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

Vicki Viidikas was born to an Estonian father and Anglo-Australian mother on 25 September 1948 in Sydney, New South Wales. She was educated at various schools in Queensland and Sydney until the age of 15 when she left school and home and worked variously as a veterinary assistant, typist, bartender, proof reader, apple packer, bookshop assistant, house cleaner, barmaid and research assistant. At age sixteen she began writing. Three years later 'At East Balmain', was her first poem to be published. Her poems have been published in magazines and anthologies. In 1975, Stephen Wallace directed a twenty-five minute film entitled Break up from the short story 'Getting it all together' published in Viidikas' book Wrappings.

She travelled widely and lived in India for more than a decade. Her interest in Indian life and culture and the Hindu religion was reflected in her writings, particularly India ink : a collection of prose poems written in India (1984). The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature says of her work: 'Viidikas's aim in both poetry and prose has been to write about the realities, as she sees them, of such subcultures as those centred on drugs, crime, alternative sexualities, or general non-conformist attitudes.'

Her awards include:
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, 1980
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Fellowship, 1978
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Fellowship, 1975
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, Young Writers' Grant, 1974.

Her publications include:
Condition red (1973)
Wrappings (1974)
Knabel (1978)
India ink (1984).

Vicki Viidikas died on 27 November 1998 in Sydney, New South Wales.

References:
Biographical material retrieved from the manuscript papers.
AustLit : the Australian Literature Resource, retrieved 13 June 2008.

Acquisition Details

The collection was acquired from Vicki Viidikas and her family in several instalments. The video cassette Break up, directed by Stephen Wallace was donated by A. Sallay.

Scope and Content

This collection comprises manuscript papers and related material produced or accumulated by Vicki Viidikas.

Access Restrictions

Other

Access: Check with Curator

This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy

Copying: Check with Curator

Existence and Location of Orginals

Special Collections, UNSW Canberra

Related and Separated Materials

Related Material

Further material relating to Vicki Viidikas is located in the papers of:
Tom Thompson and Elizabeth Butel at MSS 009.
Nigel Roberts at MSS 083.
Robert Adamson at MSS 149.


Separated Material

Further papers of Vicki Viidikas are held by the National Library, in the Papers of Vicki Viidikas at MS 9729.

Disclaimer

This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed above. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.

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Items in Collection

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