Kathleen Kylie Tennant AO (; 12 March 1912 – 28 February 1988) was an Australian novelist,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, short-story writer, critic, biographer, and historian.

Early life and career

Tennant was born in Manly, New South Wales; she was educated at

Brighton College Brighton College is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18); Brighton College Preparatory Sc ...

in Manly and

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

, though she left without graduating. She was a publicity officer for the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...

, as well as working as a journalist, union organiser, reviewer (for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''), a publisher's literary adviser and editor, and a member of the

Commonwealth Literary Fund The Commonwealth Literary Fund (CLF) was an Australian Government initiative founded in 1908 to assist needy Australian writers and their families. It was Federal Australia's first systematic support for the arts. Its scope was later broadened to e ...

advisory board. She married L. C. Rodd in 1933; they had two children (a daughter, Benison, in 1946 and a son, John Laurence, in 1951). Her work was known for its well-researched, realistic, yet positive portrayals of the lives of the underprivileged in Australia. In a video interview filmed in 1986, three years before her death, for the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

's Archival Film Series, Tennant told how she lived as the people she wrote about, travelling as an unemployed itinerant worker during the Depression years, living in Aboriginal communities and spending a short time in prison for research. Two of Tennant's novels, ''Battlers'' and ''Ride on Stranger'', set in the 1930s, have been made into television mini-series.

"Kylie's Hut", the author's retreat in Crowdy Bay, was destroyed during the

2019–20 Australian bushfire season The 201920 Australian bushfire season (Black Summer), was a period of bushfires in many parts of Australia, which, due to its unusual intensity, size, duration, and uncontrollable dimension, is considered a megafire. The Australian National ...

Awards

* 1935: S. H. Prior Memorial Prize awarded by '' The Bulletin'' magazine, for ''Tiburon'' * 1940: S. H. Prior Memorial Prize (run by the Bulletin), for ''The Battlers'', shared with

Eve Langley Eve Langley (1 September 1904 – c. 1 June 1974), born Ethel Jane Langley, was an Australian-New Zealand novelist and poet. Her novels belong to a tradition of Australian women's writing that explores the conflict between being an artist and be ...

, ''The Pea-Pickers'', and Malcolm Henry Ellis's "John Murtagh Macrossan lectures". * 1942:

Australian Literature Society Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the ...

for ''The Battlers'' * 1960: Children's Book Council Book Award for ''All the Proud Tribesmen'' * 1980:

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for services to literature

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Tiburon'' (1935. Sydney: Endeavour Press) — first published in serial form in ''The Bulletin'' * ''Foveaux'' (1939. London: Gollancz; 1946. Sydney: Sirius) * ''

The Battlers ''The Battlers'' is a 1994 Australian mini series about two drifters during the Great Depression, based on the novel of the same name by Kylie Tennant.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p176 C ...

'' (1941. London: Gollancz; New York: Macmillan; 1945. Sydney: Sirius) * ''Time Enough Later'' (c.1942. New York: Macmillan; 1945. London: Macmillan). A humorous coming of age story about a young woman and her relationship with an artistic older man. * ''

Ride on Stranger ''Ride on Stranger'' is a 1979 Australian mini series about a woman in the 1930s, based on the novel of the same name by Australian author Kylie Tennant.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970–1995'', Oxford University Press, 1 ...

'' (1943. New York: Macmillan; London: Gollancz; Sydney: Angus & Robertson) * ''Lost Haven'' (1946. NY: Macmillan; Melbourne: Macmillan; London: Macmillan) * ''The Joyful Condemned'' (1953. London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press) * ''The Honey Flow'' (1956. London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press) * ''Tell Morning This'' (1967. Sydney: Angus & Robertson) — complete version of ''The Joyful Condemned'' * ''The Man on the Headland'' (1971. Sydney: Angus & Robertson) * ''Tantavallon'' (1983. Melbourne: Macmillan)

Short stories

* ''Ma Jones and Little White Cannibals'' (1967. London)

For children

* ''Long John Silver'' (1954. Sydney: Associated General Publications) — adapted from the screenplay by

Martin Rackin Martin Rackin (31 July 1918 – 15 April 1976) was an American writer and producer who was briefly head of production at Paramount Pictures from 1960–64. In the late 1950s he wrote and produced a series of films with actor Alan Ladd. Ri ...

* '' All the Proud Tribesmen'' (1959. London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press; 1960. Melbourne: Macmillan) — illustrated by Clem Seale. Children's Book Award (1960) * ''Come and See: social studies for Third Grade'' (1960. Melbourne: Macmillan) * ''We Find the Way: social studies for Fourth Grade'' (1960. Melbourne: Macmillan) * ''Trail Blazers of the Air'' (1965. Melbourne: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press) — illustrated by Roderick Shaw

Plays

* ''Modern Plays for Schools 3'' (John o' the Forest, Lady Dorothy and the Pirates, The Willow Pattern Plate, The Laughing Girl, Christmas at the Old Shamrock Hotel) (1950. London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press) * ''Tether a Dragon'' (1952. Sydney: Associated General Publications) — Commonwealth Jubilee Stage Play Prize * ''Modern Plays for Schools 15'' (The Bells of the City, The Magic Fat Baby, The Prince Who Met a Dragon, The Ghost Tiger, Hamaguchi Goh Ei) (1955. London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press) * ''The Bushrangers' Christmas Eve and other plays'' (The Tribe of the Honey Tree, The Ladies of the Guard, A Nativity Play, The Play of the Younger Son, The Emperor and the Nightingale) (1959. London: Macmillan; New York:St Martin's Press)

Biography and history

* ''Australia: Her Story'' (1953. London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press) * ''Speak You So Gently: Lives among the Australian Aborigines'' (1959. London: Gollancz) — about the Rev

Alf Clint William Alfred Clint (8 January 1906 – 21 April 1980) was an Australian priest in the Church of England in Australia (as the Anglican Church of Australia was then called). He established a number of Aboriginal co-operatives on behalf of the ...

* ''Evatt: Politics and justice'' (1970. Sydney: Angus & Robertson) * ''The Missing Heir'' (1986. Melbourne: Macmillan) — her autobiography

Criticism

* ''The Development of the Australian Novel'' (1958. Canberra: CLF) * (with L.C. Rodd) ''The Australian Essay'' (1968. Melbourne: Cheshire)

Notes

External links

Oral history interview
of Kylie Tennant, available online at the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

A Tennant Bibliography
– compiled by Ross Burnet (included individual short-story magazine appearances) * A picture of Kylie Tennant

* * Cahill, Rowan,
More than a Footnote: A Biographical Portrait of L. C. Rodd
,'' The Hummer'', Number 27, January/April 1990, pp. 3–10 * ''The Novels of Kylie Tennant'' by Margaret Dick (Rigby, Adelaide 1966) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tennant, Kylie 1912 births 1988 deaths Australian women short story writers Australian memoirists Writers from Sydney Officers of the Order of Australia Australian women historians Australian women memoirists Women biographers Australian women novelists Australian women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights People from Manly, New South Wales ALS Gold Medal winners 20th-century Australian historians 20th-century Australian short story writers 20th-century biographers 20th-century memoirists 20th-century Australian women