Jean Bedford (born 4 February 1946) is an English-born Australian writer who is best known for her crime fiction, but who has also written novels and short stories, as well as nonfiction. She is also an editor and journalist, and has taught creative writing in several universities for over 20 years.

Life

Bedford was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

,Bedford, Jean at ''www.austlit.edu.au''
/ref> England and came to Australia as an infant.
/ref> She grew up in country

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

on the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located in the south of Greater Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to ...

. She undertook her Bachelor of Arts degree at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

and then studied Teaching English as a Second Language at the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

where she had gone with her first husband, Klim Gollan. They had a daughter, Sofya Gollan, who is a deaf actress.Hessey, Ruth (2003) "Sofya's Voice"
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 27 May 2003 After the failure of her first marriage, she returned to Australia and worked at the

Canberra College of Advanced Education The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC offers undergraduat ...

.Ellison, Jennifer (1986) ''Rooms of Their Own'', Ringwood, Penguin Books, p. 73 She later met writer

Peter Corris Peter Robert Corris (8 May 1942 – 30 August 2018) was an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical and crime fiction. As crime fiction writer, he was described as "the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-w ...

, with whom she had two more daughters, Miriam and Ruth. They separated, and she married Rod Parker, who had a daughter, Abi, from a previous relationship. Parker died in 1988. Then she and Peter Corris reignited their relationship, and finally married in 1991. Bedford and Corris lived in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

region on the south coast of New South Wales. She includes Australian writers Gabrielle Lord and

Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's debut novel, first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her ...

among her friends.Ellison, p. 78 Bedford has had a varied career. In addition to writing, she has worked as a teacher, journalist, editor and publisher, and has lectured in creative writing at several universities. Her literary career has included being literary editor for ''

The National Times ''The National Times'', later ''National Times on Sunday'', was an Australian weekly newspaper published by Fairfax News from 1971 to 1986. Background The paper quickly developed a reputation for accurate investigative journalism, winning four ...

'' and a literary consultant for the

Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a product ...

.Ellison, p. 76 In 2012 she and Linda Funnell established the ''Newtown Review of Books'', an independent website for book reviews.

Writing career

Bedford says that she first started to think of writing seriously when she worked at the

. Her first writings, short stories, were published in the ''

Nation Review ''Nation Review'' was an Australian Sunday newspaper, which ceased publication in 1981. It was launched in 1972 after independent publisher Gordon Barton bought out Tom Fitzgerald (economist), Tom Fitzgerald's ''Nation (Australia), Nation'' publ ...

''. Her first book was ''Country Girl Again'', published by

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

in 1979.Ellison, p. 74 Her first novel, ''Sister Kate'', explores the

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 185411 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader, bank robber and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing armour of the Kelly gang, a suit of bulletproof ...

legend from the point of view of Ned's sister, Kate. Bedford says she was inspired to write it after reading the American novel ''Desperadoes'' which she felt dealt with national myth in a way that Australian writers didn't. The book was well received and regularly appears on school syllabi in Australia. By the time it was published she was at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

on the Australian Stanford Writers Fellowship. Her second novel ''Love Child'', published in 1986, explores, she says, "the difference between a romantic passion and real love that has to involve real generosity and a real understanding of what the other person is, and what they want".Ellison, p. 82 Bedford includes

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, co ...

and

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...

as her early literary influences, and also admires

Frank Moorhouse Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer who won major national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, France and t ...

.Ellison, p. 74 She has published ten books of fiction, including three detective novels and a thriller. She has also edited several collections of fiction and non-fiction. Her short stories have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies. Bedford has been a judge for many awards, including

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award ''The Australian''/Vogel Literary Award was an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money AUD$20,000, was the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in Austra ...

Themes and subject matter

In an interview with Jennifer Ellison, Bedford said that "You want to do more than just tell a story. You want to tell the truth, and the way you see the truth is very political, always. I hope that my politics come out in what I choose to write about."Ellison, p. 80 Bedford's truth often relates to the lives of women, and the ways in which they can be trapped. She was part of a new wave of contemporary women writers in the 1980s who, with the support of both independent and mainstream publishing houses like McPhee Gribble and

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, "experimented with narrative form to find ways to tell women's stories".Bird, Delys (2000) "Contemporary Fiction" in Webby, Elizabeth (ed.) The Cambridge companion to Australian literature, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 200 Her collection of short stories, ''Country Girl, Again'' "paints a bleak, unillusioned picture of rural life and its stifling or destructive effects on the lives of women".Wilde, W., Hooton, J. & Andrews, B (1994) ''The Oxford Companion of Australian Literature'' 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Oxford University Press, p. 88 Similarly, ''Colouring In'', a collaborative work, also explores women's lives, this time looking at "the pleasures and pressures of urban life". Bedford's crime and historical novels too focus on women and their experience. ''Sister Kate'', her novel imagining the life of

' sister, provides a feminist perspective on a legend which until then had been almost totally expressed in terms of male mythology, and ''If With a Beating Heart'' is about "the turbulent life" of Claire Claremont, who was stepsister to

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...

and lover to

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

Works

*''Country Girl Again'' (1979, collection of short stories) *''Sister Kate'' (1982) *''Love Child'' (1986) *''Colouring In'' (1986, collection of short stories with Rosemary Cresswell) *''To Make a Killing'' (1990, Anna Southwood Mystery series) *''Worse than Death'' (1992, Anna Southwood Mystery series, with Tom Kelly) *''Signs of Murder'' (1993, Anna Southwood Mystery series) *''If with a Beating Heart'' (1993) *''Moonlight Becomes You'' (1996) *''Crime and Tide'' (1998, Brisbane River Mysteries)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Jean Australian women novelists 20th-century Australian novelists Australian feminist writers Australian women journalists Australian journalists Australian crime writers 1946 births Living people 20th-century Australian women writers Australian women short story writers Australian women mystery writers Writers from Cambridge Writers from Victoria (state) English emigrants to Australia Monash University alumni University of Papua New Guinea alumni 20th-century Australian short story writers