Robert Dessaix is an acclaimed essayist, writer of fiction, biography and autobiography. From 1985 to 1995, after teaching Russian language and literature for many years at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales, he presented the weekly Books and Writing program on ABC Radio National. In more recent years he has also presented radio series on Australian public intellectuals and great travelers in history, as well as regular programs on language.
His best-known books, all translated into several European languages, are his autobiography A MOTHER’S DISGRACE (1994 ); the novels NIGHT LETTERS (1996) and CORFU (2001); a collection of essays and short stories (AND SO FORTH)(1998); and the travel memoirs TWILIGHT OF LOVE (2004) and ARABESQUES (2008). In 2012 he published the collection of originally spoken pieces AS I WAS SAYING, in 2014 the meditation WHAT DAYS ARE FOR and in 2017, THE PLEASURES OF LEISURE. In 2020 THE TIME OF OUR LIVES was published and in 2022 ABRACADABRA was published.
A full-time writer since 1995, Robert Dessaix lives in Hobart, Tasmania with his partner.
