Guide to the Papers of Nicolette Stasko, 1965-ca. 2005

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9406, MS Acc06.163

Creator:

Nicolette Stasko

Extent:

4.65 metres and (28 boxes, 1 folio box, 1 folio bag)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Nicolette Stasko, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research; part not available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers comprise correspondence, notebooks, journals and diaries, drafts and other papers relating to Stasko's poetry, prose, articles and reviews. Also included are manuscripts for Abundance (1992), Black night with windows (1994) and Stasko's as yet unpublished prose work, originally called 'Half Moon Bay',but later called 'The invention of everyday life'.

Amongst the correspondence are letters from friends, other writers and publishers, including Inez Baranay, Bruce Beaver, Beverley Farmer, Norman di Giovanni, Lynn Hard, A.D. Hope, Alane Rollings, Veronica Brady, and John Kinsella.

Biographical Note:

Nicolette Stasko was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1950, the daughter of Alice Cecelia Paliszewski and John James Stasko. Stasko first started writing poetry and stories during her school years.

In 1968 she commenced her Bachelor of Arts at Pennsylvania State University, completing it, with honours in English, in 1971. In 1975 she undertook her MA in Education at Lehigh University. It was during her university years that Stasko's first poems were published. Stasko wrote poetry only sporadically for a number of years while she pursued her teaching career, working in an experimental school for the socially and emotionally disturbed. During this period she also translated parts of John Gower's Confessioamantis with accompanying essays. These were published in a compilation by University Press of America in 1982.

Stasko married an Australian in 1978, travelling in America, Europe, India, Nepal, Thailand and Malaysia, before arriving Australia in 1979. She taught English literature at Perth Modern School.

After separating from her husband, Stasko met David Brooks and their daughter Jessica Lane Stasko Brooks was born in 1985. It was at this time that she began writing poetry again and was introduced to the Perth literary circle, meeting many of those whose correspondence can be found in these papers.

Moving to Canberra in 1986, Stasko worked casually at Narrabundah College and continued to expand her literary friendships and to develop her own writing. She became the associate and fiction editor for The Phoenix review and had her first poem published in Australia in Hecate in 1987. Tim Curnow of Curtis Brown became her literary agent and she began reviewing for newspapers and journals. Her first public reading was with R.F. Brissenden and David Brooks during Canberra Arts Week, and her second with Dorothy Porter and Craig Powell at the Taurus Café.

Abundance was published in 1992, by which time Stasko had moved to Sydney and begun writing full time. Abundance won the Anne Elder Prize and was short listed for other awards. Stasko's writing career continued with readings on radio shows, at the National Word Festival and at many other events, an appearance on 'Vox Populi' on SBS, and invitations to participate in the Melbourne Festival.

A second collection of poetry, Black night with windows (HarperCollinsAngus Robertson, 1994) was launched by Don Anderson at Annandale Galleries.

Australian literary magazines such as Westerly, Fine line, Southerly, Mattoid, Overland extra, Island and SALT have published her work and it has also been included in the anthologies Shadows in a wall: an anthology of poetry and prose (1986), Wordhord (1989), The poetry of Canberra (1990)and Mendorong jack kuntikunti : sepilihan sajak dari Australia (1991)

Stasko took two years recovering from injuries received in a car accident in 1994. The injuries made typing and reading very difficult, but she was awarded a fellowship at Varuna in 1996 and she began writing again, trying a new area of essays on art and literature (eg for Photofile). She also wrote reviews for the Australian book review.

Ms Stasko became an Australian citizen in 1996.

In 1997 Stasko was included in The New Oxford book of Australian verse (1996)and spent some months working on 'The invention of everyday life'(working title Half Moon Bay). The Australia Council awarded Stasko a Writers Grant in 1997. In 2000 Stasko published Oyster: from Montparnasse to Greenwell Point (HarperCollins). Her third collection of poetry, 'In certain light', is to be published by Black Pepper in 2001.

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Provenance:

The papers were purchased from Nicolette Stasko in 1998.

Arrangement:

The papers were received in good order and the Library has maintained Stasko's file arrangement.

Indexed terms

Names:

Nicolette Stasko

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn344643).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Nicolette Stasko, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

Contact us