Elizabeth Jolley AO (1923-2007) was a West Australian writer. Born in England, she worked as a nurse during the war and after migrating to Western Australia in 1959, when she also worked as a cleaner and saleswoman. She received immediate recognition with the publication of her story collection, Five Acre Virgin, in 1976. Since then, her stylistically distinctive examination of women's experience and fears has attracted much interest from feminist scholars, but her dozen novels, numerous radio plays and a collection of autobiographical pieces have also won her a broad domestic and international readership. The trilogy My Father's Moon, Cabin Fever and The Georges' Wife (1989-1993) is generally considered the high point of her writing career. She taught creative writing at Perth's Curtin University for more than thirty years. Holder of three honorary doctorates, she won the Age Book of the Year Award twice, and the Miles Franklin Award for The Well (1986).
