Grenville, Kate (1950-…), is an Australian author known for her novels and stories on feminist themes. Critics have praised Grenville for her creative use of language, especially dialogue and descriptions of nature, and for her strong sense of Australian history.
Grenville’s first published work was the story collection Bearded Ladies (1984), which established her as an important feminist writer. The stories deal with Australian women who face difficult choices in modern society. Lilian’s Story (1985), Grenville’s first published novel, tells about a woman who chooses to live on the street as a means of trying to retain her individuality and escape abuse from her violent father. The novel is based on the life of a woman who roamed the streets of Sydney in the early 1900’s, quoting from the works of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare.
In Joan Makes History (1988), Grenville created a double story of a modern woman named Joan and a series of other Joans who lived at various times in Australian history but were ignored in standard versions of the country’s past. The Idea of Perfection (1999) is a comic novel about a romance between two people in an outback Australian town. The Secret River (2005) is a novel about how people of European descent treated the Aboriginal peoples of Australia during the 1800’s. The novel A Room Made of Leaves (2020) is presented as the secret memoir of Elizabeth Macarthur, the wife of one of Australia’s early wool barons. Grenville’s other novels include Dreamhouse (1986); Albion’s Story (1994); The Secret River (2005) and its sequel, Sarah Thornhill (2011); The Lieutenant (2008); and Dark Places (2010).
Grenville discussed her approach to writing in The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers (1990) and in Writing from Start to Finish: A Six-Step Guide (2001). With the Australian writer and teacher Sue Woolfe, she co-wrote Making Stories: How Ten Australian Novels Were Written (1993). Grenville wrote a memoir, Searching for the Secret River (2006).
Grenville was born on Oct. 14, 1950, in Sydney. She received a B.A. degree from the University of Sydney in 1972 and then traveled extensively in England and Europe for several years. She moved briefly to the United States and received an M.A. degree from the University of Colorado in 1982. Grenville returned to Australia in 1983 and worked as an editor and writer in motion pictures and television until 1985. Since that time, she has devoted herself to writing full-time. In 2018, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Grenville as an Officer of the Order of Australia. Grenville was honored for her service to the literary arts and education.
