Anderson, Jessica (1916-2010), was an Australian novelist and writer of short stories who became known for her skill as a storyteller and her sensitive portrayals of Australian people and landscapes. Anderson set nearly all her fiction in Sydney and Brisbane, where she lived most of her life. Her novels frequently deal with women struggling in a restrictive social environment.
Anderson gained immediate recognition with her first novel, An Ordinary Lunacy (1963). Her most famous novel is Tirra Lirra by the River (1978), which won the Miles Franklin Award, which is given annually to a novel or play presenting aspects of Australian life. She also wrote the novels The Last Man’s Head (1970), The Commandant (1975), The Impersonators (1980, published in the United States as The Only Daughter), Taking Shelter (1989), and One of the Wattle Birds (1994).
Jessica Margaret Queale was born on Sept. 25, 1916, in Brisbane, Queensland. She took her professional name from her second marriage, to Leonard Culbert Anderson. She began her literary career writing short stories for newspapers. Her short stories were collected in Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories (1987). The book won the Age Book of the Year Award, an annual literary award presented by Melbourne’s The Age newspaper. Anderson also wrote a number of radio plays. Anderson died on July 9, 2010.
