The ASA was heavy-hearted to hear of the tragic passing of award-winning author and Professor of English and Cultural Studies, Brenda Walker, just before the end of last year.

ASA Chair, Sophie Cunningham, said, “I met Brenda socially, through shared friends, in the early 1990s. In the decades since I had the opportunity to work with her several times. She was a member of the Literature Board when I was its Chair, she was a judge of the Stella Prize when I was actively involved with that organisation, and I included a beautiful essay she wrote ( everything Brenda wrote was beautiful) in an anthology that I edited in 2020, called Fire, Flood, Plague. These ongoing points of connection meant our friendship grew larger, and more solid. 

“Brenda had such a talent for friendship and she was a loyal and supportive friend to so many of us in the literary community.  Working with her also meant that I had the chance to see her glorious, big brain in action time and time again. 

“She was clear, passionate, well-read, super smart, diplomatic but forthright. As well as a maker of literature she was a great teacher of it. She talked often of her love for her husband, Alex, and her son. She adored her cats (who are extremely adorable). Her death is sudden, and it is devastating. I will miss her. So many of us will miss her. I take some solace in the knowledge she was much loved.”

Brenda was the author of four novels, Crush, One More River, Poe’s Cat, and The Wing of Night, for which she won the Nita Kibble Award (2006) and the Asher Award (2007). The Wing of Night was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Christina Stead Prize. Brenda’s memoir, Reading by Moonlight: How Books Saved a Life, won the 2010 Victorion Premier’s Awards Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction, and the 2011 Nita Kibble Literary Award.

Not only was Brenda a beloved writer, she is also remembered as a warm friend and enthusiastic supporter of other authors.

In a tribute to Brenda Walker for The Conversation, author and academic Delia Falconer wrote, “Walker’s influence in building Australian writing with knowledge, skill and kindness extended beyond her state. In addition to her work as a mentor for Varuna, she was a member of the Australia Council’s Literature Board from 2012 to 2014 and chair of the judging panel of the national Stella Prize for women’s writing from 2016–2017.

“In the days since her death, I have heard from many writers who received generous letters of encouragement, unbidden, in a spirit of solidarity. One recipient described being in the same room as her at the many festivals to which she was invited, in Ubud (Bali), Cheltenham (UK) and Australia, as “magical”.”

Author and professor, Yasmin Haskell, said, “Brenda scooped me up at UWA when I was going through a terrible divorce. We became firm but giddy friends, scampering in and out of each others’ offices in the Arts building like mischievous kittens. At one point we even swapped offices, Brenda transforming mine, directly above hers, into an elegant eyrie, tastefully appointed with plump cushions, rugs and beautiful objects. I reduced hers to a cave of books, unopened boxes and other obstacles, but it still felt like a special alignment.

“After her retirement I used to visit Brenda in her sunlit apartment in West Perth, which became our de facto writers’ retreat.  She would set me up at the dining table, Sophie, the senior white ragdoll, purring gently at my elbow. As I gazed over tall trees to the Supreme Court gardens, Brenda would fuss about in her study facing the river. Hours would pass but it always seemed to be time for tea and freshly baked titbits. No books were ever going to be written during those sessions, which were a pretext for long chats and laughter over well-plotted anecdotes.

“Our friend Delia has observed that Brenda spoke exactly as she wrote. I’ve recently discovered a trove of old emails. Re-reading these ephemera I only now appreciate the exquisite care Brenda took with even the most mundane of communications. Every utterance was an expression of love. A year ago, Brenda was preparing to accompany me to my first appointment with the breast cancer surgeon. Two days before she texted me:

“Today in Hyde Park a group of Vietnamese dancers were turning in circles around one another, their hands raised in graceful shapes. So wonderful. Your equivalent would be birds lifting from the riverbank. So many passing and exceptional things to see. I hope your day is going well.”

We offer our sincere condolences to Brenda Walker’s family and loved ones.