The Frank Moorhouse Reading Room

Description

The Frank Moorhouse Reading Room, which appears in Projects/Applications in this research profile, is an ongoing joint project between the Sydney Review of Books, the Whitlam Institute and the Copyright Agency. In 2025 we hosted six writers at the Whitlam House in Cabramatta, in groups of three, for 1 week. Each writer met with us, spent time with the Frank Moorhouse Collection (housed on the Parramatta South campus), and used their week in drafting an essay in reposnse to the collection, to be published in the Sydney Review of Books in 2026. This is a dynamic project which we expect to extend in late 2026. Editors James Jiang, Eda Gunaydin and I are currently (late 2025) engaged in reading new essays for the project.

The project reflects on the changing face of Australian literature and the writing life through responses to Moorhouse's anthology collection. By inviting diverse writers to unpack this singular archive, the project spotlights the intergenerational affiliations through which Australian literature is constantly being shaped and reshaped.

Period	2 Feb 2025 → 1 Dec 2026