Shirley Hazzard facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Shirley Hazzard
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Shirley Hazzard at a benefit awards dinner 29 October 2007
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| Born | 30 January 1931 Sydney, Australia |
| Died | 12 December 2016 (aged 85) Manhattan, New York City |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Notable works | The Bay of Noon The Transit of Venus The Great Fire |
| Notable awards | O. Henry Award National Book Award Miles Franklin Award William Dean Howells Medal National Book Critics Circle Award |
| Spouse | Francis Steegmuller (1963–1994; his death) |
Shirley Hazzard (born January 30, 1931 – died December 12, 2016) was a famous writer. She wrote novels, short stories, and essays. Shirley was born in Australia but also became a citizen of the United States.
Her novel The Bay of Noon was nominated for a special award in 2010. Her book The Great Fire won several big awards. These included the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and the Miles Franklin Award. Shirley Hazzard also wrote non-fiction books. Some of these books were about her time working at the United Nations Secretariat. She shared her honest thoughts about the organization in these books.
Contents
Shirley Hazzard's Early Life
Shirley Hazzard was born in Sydney, Australia. Her father was from Wales and her mother was from Scotland. They both moved to Australia in the 1920s. They met while working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Shirley went to Queenwood School for Girls in Mosman. But she left school in 1947. Her father became a diplomat, which is like a government representative. He was sent to work in Hong Kong.
Her parents wanted her to study at the university there. However, the university was damaged during the war. So, at age 16, Shirley started working. She worked for the British Combined Intelligence Services. Later, her family moved to Australia and then to New Zealand. Her father became the Australian Trade Commissioner there. Shirley said that living in the East made her feel that "people could enjoy life."
In 1951, when she was 20, Shirley and her family moved to New York City. She worked at the United Nations for about 10 years. She started as a typist. In 1956, she worked in Naples, Italy, for a year. She loved exploring Italy and visited every year for several years.
Shirley Hazzard's Writing Journey
Shirley Hazzard wrote her first short story in 1960. It was called "Woollahra Road." The New Yorker magazine published it the next year. After this, she left her job at the United Nations. She decided to become a full-time writer.
Her first book, Cliffs of Fall, came out in 1963. It was a collection of stories she had already published. Her first novel, The Evening of the Holiday, was published in 1966. Her second novel, The Bay of Noon, came out in 1970. This book is about British people living in Italy after World War II.
Her third novel, The Transit of Venus, was a big success. It tells the story of two sisters from Australia. They live very different lives in Britain after the war.
Shirley Hazzard's last novel was The Great Fire. It was published more than 20 years later, in 2003. This book is about a British war hero in Asia.
Non-Fiction Books
Besides novels, Shirley Hazzard wrote non-fiction books. Two of them were critical of the United Nations. These were Defeat of an Ideal (1973) and Countenance of Truth (1990). In Defeat of an Ideal, she wrote about problems within the United Nations from 1951 to 1955. In Countenance of Truth, she claimed that important diplomats knew about Kurt Waldheim's past but let him become Secretary-General. She first shared this idea in an article in 1980.
Her short story collection, People in Glass Houses, makes fun of "The Organisation." This organization was clearly inspired by the United Nations.
Shirley Hazzard also wrote Greene on Capri. This book is a memoir about her friendship with her husband, Francis Steegmuller. He was a scholar who studied the writer Gustave Flaubert. She also wrote about her friend Graham Greene, another writer. She met him in the 1960s and he influenced her writing. Her last non-fiction book was The Ancient Shore: Dispatches from Naples (2008). She wrote this book with her husband, Francis Steegmuller.
Writing Style and Themes
Shirley Hazzard admired the writing of Henry James. Critics have noticed that her writing is similar to his. Her style is often described as "simple" and "clear."
Critics have also pointed out that Shirley Hazzard's characters and stories often reflected her own life. For example, the main character in The Great Fire, Helen Driscoll, had a similar early life to Shirley's. Helen and her brother loved reading and poetry. Shirley once said that poetry was always very important to her. Helen also had to move to New Zealand, just like Shirley did.
Shirley Hazzard's writing often featured characters who loved beauty and art. These characters sometimes struggled with people who were not as thoughtful. Her writing was elegant and she controlled her stories well.
Awards and Honors
Shirley Hazzard won many awards for her writing.
- In 1977, her short story "A Long Story Short" won an O. Henry Award.
- Her novel The Transit of Venus won the 1980 National Book Critics Circle Award.
- The Great Fire won the 2003 National Book Award. It also won the 2004 Miles Franklin Award and the 2005 William Dean Howells Medal. This book was also considered for other major awards.
- The Bay of Noon was nominated for the Lost Man Booker Prize in 2010.
Shirley Hazzard was a member of important literary groups. These included the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the British Royal Society of Literature. In 1984, she gave the Boyer Lectures. These are special radio talks given by famous Australians each year. Her talks were published as a book called Coming of Age in Australia. In 2012, a conference was held to celebrate her work.
Shirley Hazzard's Personal Life
In 1963, Shirley Hazzard married writer Francis Steegmuller. They moved to Europe and lived in Paris. They also visited Italy often. In the early 1970s, they settled in Capri, Italy. They also had an apartment in New York City. Francis Steegmuller passed away in 1994.
Shirley Hazzard died in New York City on December 12, 2016. She was 85 years old.
Shirley Hazzard's Works
Novels
- The Evening of the Holiday (1966)
- The Bay of Noon (1970)
- The Transit of Venus (1980)
- The Great Fire (2003)
Short Story Collections
- Cliffs of Fall and Other Stories (1963)
- People in Glass Houses (1967)
Non-Fiction
- Defeat of an Ideal: A Study of the Self-destruction of the United Nations (1973)
- Coming of Age in Australia (1985)
- Countenance of Truth: The United Nations and the Waldheim Case (1990)
- Greene on Capri: A Memoir (2000)
- The Ancient Shore: Dispatches from Naples (2008) (with Francis Steegmuller)
- We Need Silence to Find Out What We Think: Selected Essays (2016)
Images for kids
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Shirley Hazzard at a benefit awards dinner 29 October 2007
