Reviewers recently compared Bail's Notebooks 1970-2003 with Proust, Gide and Valery'sĬlancy suggests that Bail is, with Peter Carey and Frank Moorhouse, one of the chief innovators in Australian short story writing, and that he was part of its revival in the 1970s. His other work includes the novels Homesickness, which was a joint winner of The Age Book of the Year in 1980, and Holden's Performance, another award-winner. He is most well known for his novel Eucalyptus which won the Miles Franklin Award in 1999. The portrait was done while both Williams and Bail were Williams and Bail were Council members of the National Gallery of Australia. He was also trustee of the National Gallery of Australia from 1976 to 1981, and wrote a book on Australian artist, Ian Fairweather.Ī portrait of Bail by the artist Fred Williams is hung in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. He has lived most of his life in Australia except for sojourns in India (1968-1970) and England and Europe (1970-1974). Murray Bail is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. Prize, both 1999 ASL Gold Medal, 1998 Victorial Premier'sĪward for Fiction and The Age Book of the Year, both 1980. Awards-Miles Franklin Award and Commonwealth Writer's.Eucalyptus is a shimmering love story that affirms the beguiling power of storytelling itself. Murray Bail's rich narrative is filled with unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. As the contest draws to a close, Ellen and the stranger's meetings become more erotic, the stories more urgent. In the days that follow, he spins dozens of tales set in cities, deserts, and faraway countries. Ellen is uninterested in the many suitors who arrive from around the world, until one afternoon she chances on a strange, handsome young man resting under a Coolibah tree. When Ellen turns nineteen Holland makes an announcement: she may marry only the man who can correctly name the species of each of the hundreds of gum trees on his property. The gruff widower Holland has two possessions he cherishes above all others: his sprawling property of eucalyptus trees and his ravishingly beautiful daughter, Ellen.

Murray bail author