Marian Favel Clair Eldridge (1 February 1936 – 14 February 1997) was an Australian short story writer and book reviewer.

Biography

Marian Favel Clair Stockfeld was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 1 February 1936. She grew up on her parents' property outside

Lancefield Lancefield is a town in the Shire of Macedon Ranges local government area in Victoria, Australia north of the state capital, Melbourne, 33.6km south of Puckapunyal and had a population of at least 2,743 at the 2021 census. History The are ...

. Eldridge graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in 1957 with a BA and then taught high school English and History in

Traralgon Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...

and in Canberra. She was a member of the "Canberra Seven" or "Canberra Seven Writers" along with

Marion Halligan Marion Mildred Halligan Order of Australia, AM (16 April 1940 – 19 February 2024) was an Australian writer and novelist. She authored twenty-three books, including fiction, short-fiction, and non-fiction. Her novel ''Lovers' Knots'' (1992) won ...

Dorothy Johnston Dorothy Johnston (born 1948) is an Australian author of both crime and literary fiction. She has published novels, short stories and essays. Born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Johnston trained as a teacher at the University of Melbourne an ...

, Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse, Suzanne Edgar and Dorothy Horsfield, who met to critique and encourage each other's writing. Her stories were published in Australian literary journals, including ''Coast to Coast'', '' Westerly'', ''Festival'' and ''Australian Voices''. She wrote book reviews for ''

Australian Book Review ''Australian Book Review'' is an Australian arts and literary review. Created in 1961, ''ABR'' is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are " ...

'' and ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

''.

Selected works

Short story collections

* ''Walking the Dog'' (1984) * ''The Woman at the Window'' (1989) * ''The Wild Sweet Flowers: The Alvie Skerritt Stories'' (1994)

Novel

* ''Springfield'' (1992)

Awards and recognition

Eldridge was joint winner of the 1981 Canberra Times National Short Story Competition and won the 1992 ACT Literary Award and was runner-up for the same award the following year. Her anthology, ''The Woman at the Window'', was highly commended in the 1990

Barbara Ramsden Award The Barbara Ramsden Award was administered by Fellowship of Australian Writers and awarded annually to an author and editor in recognition of the efforts of both parties to produce a quality fiction or non-fiction book. The winners receive a memo ...

, while ''The Wild Sweet Flowers'' won the NSW International Year of the Family Award in 1994.

Death and legacy

Eldridge died on 14 February 1997 in Canberra. Eldridge Crescent in the Canberra suburb of

Garran Garran is a suburb in the Woden district of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. Garran was named after Sir Robert Garran who made numerous contributions to the development of higher education in Canberra. The streets in Garran are nam ...

was named in her honour. Her papers are held in the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eldridge, Marian 1936 births 1997 deaths 20th-century Australian women writers University of Melbourne alumni 20th-century Australian short story writers Australian literary critics Australian women literary critics