Helen Garner reflects on five decades of writing — an ABC Radio National Top 100 Books countdown special

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Written from us, written into us. These are the pages to which Australia returns. The ABC Radio National Top 100 Australian Books Countdown. Voting closes October 1st.

Visit abc.net.au/top100books to cast your vote.

Natasha Mitchell (0:37)

From her first book back in 1977

Helen Garner (0:40)

Because you see, when Monkey Grip came out, it's based absolutely on diaries. I mean, I used to go down to the state library with my diary and I used to have, that was there, and I had the other exercise book here, and I was just basically adapting the diary as I went.

Natasha Mitchell (0:55)

To her eye-opening true stories of the justice system up close.

Helen Garner (1:00)

There are times in a court where I felt, when a long trial is rolling and you've been there every day, and you've got the whole story and all the characters, and they're coming and going, and I just had this feeling of enormous joy and privilege, of being allowed to witness it. So being allowed to witness it made me want to record what I was seeing.

Natasha Mitchell (1:24)

And of course, her extraordinary diaries and short story collections.

Helen Garner (1:28)

I think I've enjoyed myself as a writer much more since I lost that anxiety about, you know, that if I wasn't writing fiction, I wasn't really doing the important thing.

Because I think I'm naturally a non-fiction writer, actually. I feel completely at ease in that form.

Natasha Mitchell (1:50)

Today on Big Ideas, Australian literary icon, Helen Garner, looks back at a lifetime of writing spanning five decades. The winner of the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize. She's known for her precise, her observational writing style, disarming honesty, piercing curiosity. And I can't wait to hear what she has to say today. Hello, I'm Natasha Mitchell. Welcome to the show.

And ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books Vote is on this year. We want you to enjoy voting for your favourite Australian books of all time.

And I can tell you now, Helen Garner's Monkey Grip is on my final shortlist. And I'm seeing a whole lot of other Garner titles pop up in many of yours. You have until October the 1st to get your vote in. So head to the Radio National homepage for details. And then join the countdown, which will happen live on ABC Radio National across the weekend of October the 17th and 18th. And so did this special conversation. The first in a series of events called Body of Work with celebrated Australian writers looking back over their entire careers. It's hosted by the Melbourne Arts Precinct and Federation Square on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung peoples.

And never want to mince her words. This is your colourful language warning. Helen Garner joins a crowd of fans, over 500 of them. And her conversation partner today is the editor of the monthly magazine, Michael Williams.

Michael Williams (3:40)

Well, that's pretty excellent. What a treat to be here tonight with Helen. Thank you, Jacqueline, for that wonderful introduction and for curating this series.

It had to be Helen. There's no one like Helen and what a treat it is to get to sit here and talk to you tonight. How does the phrase body of work make you feel?

Helen Garner (4:05)

Makes me break out in a sweat.

Yeah. Well, I turned 80, what, three years ago and things look pretty different from this side of 80 Because I don't know, maybe the whole body is there. I don't know yet. There might be a toe or something missing. But yeah, it is a weird concept, a body of work. I mean, I like the phrase. It sounds as if it makes sense with itself, which is what one hopes.

Michael Williams (4:36)

Does a career in writing only make sense at this stage of it? Do you have to see it and see the movements and shapes of it?

As you're going along, do you have a sense of adding to that body or is it something that you can only do in hindsight?

Helen Garner (4:51)

Well, see the word career is, it's never meant anything to me.

But I look back and I see my writing life as being a series of, like I mean, I see myself crawling along. I don't see myself striding and making grand gestures, which is what the word career seems to. But, careering, it seems like somebody might be steering it. And really, that's not how it feels when you're actually doing it. So no, I mean, if I look back, I just see a series of lumps and bumps and swerves, and you know, I don't see anything that would, you could really describe as a body.