Helen Garner
| Helen Garner | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 November 1942 Geelong, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, journalist |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | University of Melbourne |
| Spouse | Bill Garner (1967–1971) Jean-Jacques Portail (1980–85) Murray Bail (1990s–2000) |
| Children | Alice Garner |
Helen Garner (born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist.
Garner's first novel, Monkey Grip, was published in 1977, and immediately established her as an original voice on the Australian literary scene. She is known for incorporating and adapting her personal experiences in her fiction, something that has brought her both praise and criticism, particularly with her novels, Monkey Grip and The Spare Room.
Throughout her career, Garner has written both fiction and non-fiction. She attracted controversy with her book The First Stone about a sexual harassment scandal in a university college. She has also written for film and theatre, and has consistently won awards for her work. Two of her works have been adapted into feature films: her debut novel Monkey Grip and her true crime book Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004) – the former released in 1982 and the latter in 2016.
Garner was born in Geelong, Victoria, the eldest of six children. She attended Manifold Heights State School, Ocean Grove State School and then The Hermitage in Geelong. She went on to study at the University of Melbourne, residing at Janet Clarke Hall, and graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with majors in English and French.
Between 1966 and 1972, Garner worked as a high-school teacher at various Victorian high schools. During this time, in 1967, she also travelled overseas and met Bill Garner, whom she married in 1968 on their return to Australia. Her only child, the actor, musician and writer Alice Garner, was born in 1969, and her marriage ended in 1971.
In 1972, she was sacked by the Victorian Department of Education for "giving an unscheduled sex education lesson to her 13-year-old students at Fitzroy High School". The case was widely publicised in Melbourne, bringing Garner a degree of notoriety.
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