Guide to the Papers of Yasmine Gooneratne, 1960-1999

 

Collection context

Summary

Collection number:
MS 9094
Creator:
Yasmine Gooneratne
Extent:
2.73 metres and (16.5 boxes, 1 folio box)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Yasmine Gooneratne, National Library of Australia, MS 9094, [series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Permission required for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
The papers include correspondence, reviews of Relative merits, drafts of Word, bird, motif: poems, A change of skies and The pleasures of conquest and printed material.
Biographical Note:

Yasmine Gooneratne was born in 1935 in Sri Lanka. She is a university professor, literary critic, editor, bibliographer, novelist, essayist and poet. Gooneratne was educated at the Universities of Ceylon and Cambridge. She became a resident in Australia in 1972. She holds a personal chair of English at Macquarie University 1991- and was the foundation Director of the Post-Colonial Literatures and Language Research Centre, 1988-93. She has been a visiting professor or expert specialist at, among places here and overseas, Edith Cowan University, University of Michigan, Ann Abor, and University of the South Pacific.

Gooneratne has published sixteen books. They include works on literary criticism, edited anthologies of Asian poetry and prose, two novels and several volumes of poetry. Her books include her family history Relative merits : a personal memoir of the Bandaranaike family of Sri Lanka (1986). Her first novel, A change of skies (1991) won the 1992 Marjorie Barnard Literary Award for Fiction and was short listed for the 1991 Commonwealth Fiction Prize and her second novel, The pleasures of conquest (1995) was short listed for the 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize.

In addition Gooneratne has contributed literary articles, poetry and other writings to a wide range of journals and anthologies. Some of her work is published under the male pseudonym Tilak Gunawardena. In 1990 she was invited to become the Patron of the Jane Austen Society of Australia.

She was awarded the AO in 1990 for distinguished service to literature and education. In 1991 she was awarded a Writer's Fellowship by the NSW Ministry for the Arts. This involved residence at Varuna Writers' Centre where she worked on the final draft of A change of skies.

Gooneratne's work has been presented on television and radio and at public readings in Australia, India, Britain, United States, Canada, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Her achievements are noted in Who's who of Australia 1997, and in The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature.

Provenance:

Gooneratne donated her papers to the National Library of Australia on 23 December 1996 under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme.

Arrangement:

Gooneratne has compiled a detailed numbered list of her papers. A copy of this list is available for viewing in the Manuscript Reading Room.

The papers have been arranged by the donor and this arrangement has been preserved.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1505419).
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 Yasmine Gooneratne, National Library of Australia, MS 9094, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact: