Jason Steger (born 1956) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, working in both print and film media. He is currently the literary editor of the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

broadsheet ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

''. He was one of three regular commentators on ABC TV's ''

The Book Club ''The Book Club'' (formerly ''First Tuesday Book Club'') was an Australian television show that discussed books, ostensibly in the style of a domestic book club. Hosted by journalist Jennifer Byrne Jennifer Victoria Byrne (born 5 March ...

''.

Life in England

Steger was born in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in 1956. He attended the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, before beginning his career as a journalist on

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

's ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' in 1980.

Life in Australia

Steger relocated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1987, where he worked as a journalist for '' The Herald'' before moving to ''The Sunday Age'' in 1990. He became literary editor of both ''The Age'' and ''The Sunday Age'' in 2000, as part of which he contributes a weekly column to the "Spectrum" section of ''The Age'' each Saturday, summarising the latest news from both the local and international literary communities. In 2006, Steger joined

Marieke Hardy Marieke Josephine Hardy (born 26 May 1976) is an Australian writer, radio and television presenter, television producer and screenwriter and former television actress. Early life and family Hardy is the granddaughter of Frank Hardy, author of ...

and

Jennifer Byrne Jennifer Victoria Byrne (born 5 March 1955) is an Australian journalist, television presenter and former book publisher. She hosted the monthly ABC television program ''The Book Club'', originally titled ''First Tuesday Book Club''. Early lif ...

as one of the three regular panellists on the ''

First Tuesday Book Club ''The Book Club'' (formerly ''First Tuesday Book Club'') was an Australian television show that discussed books, ostensibly in the style of a domestic book club. Hosted by journalist Jennifer Byrne, it used a panel format with two regular mem ...

'', a television book review program broadcast by the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. Because the series allows for discussion of classic books as well as more recent releases, Steger has seized the opportunity to express his love of literature from a personal, even sentimental perspective, that the focus by ''The Age'' on contemporary literature does not generally allow. For example, when he was asked to select a novel for the group to discuss, he chose

Alain-Fournier Alain-Fournier () was the pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier (3 October 1886 – 22 September 1914Mémoi ...

's classic ''

Le Grand Meaulnes ''Le Grand Meaulnes'' () is the only novel by French author Alain-Fournier, who was killed in the first month of World War I. The novel, published in 1913, a year before the author's death, is somewhat autobiographical – especially the name of th ...

'', not because of its literary merit or contemporary relevance, but because it is one of the books that has been most influential on his development as a person.Steger, Jason. ''First Tuesday Book Club''
3 July 2007
click "transcript" tab for Steger's comments.

References

External links

Literary news and reviews
at ''The Age'' online.
Staff profile
at ''The Age'' online.

at the ''First Tuesday Book Club'' website.
''First Tuesday Book Club'' video archive
collecting a number of video clips from past episodes featuring Jason Steger as a commentator.

two-time Miles Franklin Award-winning author.

by Jason Steger. 1956 births Living people Alumni of the University of Kent Australian newspaper editors Journalists from Melbourne {{Australia-journalist-stub