Collection: Adult Non Fiction - Biography

In 1953, after doctors prescribed fresh country air for his health, Scottish-born Robert Wales uprooted his young family from the city life of Sydney and set out to establish a sheep farm in the bush. What he lacked in experience and expertise, he made up for in enthusiasm. Or so he hoped. When t...

Scope and content: "An electrifying memoir by the blind Chinese activist who inspired millions with the story of his fight for justice and his belief in the cause of freedom. It was like a scene out of a thriller: one morning in April 2012, China's most famous political activist--a blind, self-ta...

A school and university cadet in Sydney, Barney Greatrex signed up for RAF Bomber Command in 1941, eager to get straight into the very centre of the Allied counterattack. Bombing Germany night after night, Barney's 61 Squadron faced continual enemy fighter attacks and anti-aircraft fire - death o...

"P. T. Barnum's career of showmanship and charlatanry was marked by a surprising undercurrent of honesty and forthrightness. His exuberant autobiography forms a happy combination of all those traits, revealing the whole story of his world-famous hoaxes and publicity stunts. Here is a pageant of n...

A major literary event: a newly published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God brilliantly illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery as it tells the true story of one of the last known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade-abducted from Africa on the la...

"Film and television director and notable raconteur Barry Sonnenfeld's outrageous and hilarious memoir, tracing his idiosyncratic upbringing in Washington Heights, his breaking into film as a cinematographer with the Coen brothers, and his unexpected career as the director behind such huge film f...

It doesn't get any better than this. Ash Barty, the greatest Australian tennis player of the modern era, rewrote history by winning the 2022 Australian Open and becoming the first Australian woman to do so since 1978. The Barty Party has moved at an incredible speed since she first broke through ...

Of all the uplifting sports stories that have captured the imagination of Australia as a nation, few have been greeted with such spontaneous and unanimous acclaim as tennis champion Ashleigh Barty. Her inspirational 2021 Wimbledon win delivered a celebration not seen since Cathy Freemana's immort...

For a variety of reasons, Australian sport needed an uplifting, inspirational, feel-good story in 2019. The year was only little more than half over before one had well and truly arrived - one of the best ever, in fact. Tennis star Ashleigh Barty captured the public's imagination and admiration b...