Marilla North Explained

Marilla North (also Marilla Wilson and Marilla Eidlitz) is a biographer and cultural historian, working in Australian women’s literary history.^[1]

Early life

North's book of poetry Blue Glass and Turtle Eggs was published in 1975.^[2]

With Ferencz Eidlitz, she exhibited an experimental design of her poetry in Canberra Theatre.^[3]

Career

North organised music events for the Richmond Grove Winery in the Hunter Valley.^[4]

From 2000, North taught Australian literature at Boston University's Sydney Programme.^[5] In 2014 she was awarded a Postgraduate Scholarship at the University of Queensland.

In 2001, she published Yarn Spinners, an experimental biographical text of friendship, politics and literature woven through the letters between Cusack and two other contemporary writers Miles Franklin and Florence James.^[6] She later created Yarnspinners Press Collective with her husband. In 2017, she published a significantly revised and expanded second edition of Yarn Spinners.^[7]

Publications

Books

• 1975: Blue Glass and Turtles Eggs, Jacaranda Press^[8]
• 2001: Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters University of Queensland Press^[9]
• 2016: Yarn Spinners: A Story of Friendship, Politics and a Shared Commitment to a Distinctive Australian Literature, Woven Through the Letter of Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin, and Their Congenials, Revised and expanded second edition, Brandle and Schlesinger, Sydney^[10]
• 2017: Come in Dymphna : The Life and Loves of Dymphna Cusack, Brandl and Schlesinger^[11]
• 2019: Singing Back the River, Yarnspinners Press Collective^[12]
• 2024: Remembering Dorothy co-written with Joe Flood, Deluge Publishing^[13]

Editor

• 2005: Co-editor with Prof Elizabeth Webby, "Australian and International Feminisms 1975–2005: Where We've Been and Where We're Going" Special Edition of Social Alternatives 24 (2)^[14]
• 2015: “Dymphna Cusack and the Hunter” in Bennett, J (ed) Radical Newcastle (New South Press) pp 144–151.

Awards

• 2001 Fellowship of Australian Writers Christina Stead Award for Biography – winner for Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters^[15]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit — Marilla North . Austlit. 28 November 2024.
2. News: 1976-01-16 . Elegant musing . Canberra Times. 2022-05-07.
3. News: 24 October 1973 . News for Women . 13 . Canberra Times.
4. News: Blanks . Fred . 20 July 1990 . Anyone for dry sherry and a Bach fugue? . 20 . Australian Jewish News .
5. Web site: "We Are the Sons Dymphna Cusack" . Hecate, Vol 42 No 1. 28 November 2024. .
6. Web site: "Marilla North ed, Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters. Dymphna Cusack and Florence James, Miles Franklin, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 2001" . JAS Review of Books, October 2001. 28 November 2024.
7. News: Pierce . Peter . 17 February 2018 . Yarn Spinners: letters of Dymphna Cusack, Florence James and Miles Franklin . The Australian . 10 May 2022. subscription.
8. Web site: Blue Glass and Turtles Eggs by Marilla North. National Library of Australia. 28 November 2024.
9. Web site: Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters by Marilla North. National Library of Australia. 28 November 2024.
10. Web site: Yarn Spinners: A Story of Friendship, Politics and a Shared Commitment to a Distinctive Australian Literature, Woven Through the Letter of Dymphna Cusack, Florence James, Miles Franklin, and Their Congenials by Marilla North. National Library of Australia. 28 November 2024.
11. Web site: Come in Dymphna : The Life and Loves of Dymphna Cusack by Marilla North. Austlit. 28 November 2024.
12. Web site: Singing Back the River by Marilla North. National Library of Australia. 28 November 2024.
13. Web site: Remembering Dorothy by Marilla North and Joe Flood. Austlit. 28 November 2024.
14. Web site: Social Alternatives 24 co-edited by Marilla North and Elizabeth Webby . Austlit. 28 November 2024.
15. Web site: Austlit — Marilla North – Awards . Austlit. 28 November 2024.