Nancy Keesing

Background

Nancy Keesing was born in Sydney, Australia and attended school at Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School, the Frensham School and then went on to the University of Sydney.

Education

After the war she enrolled in social sciences at the University of Sydney, and then worked as a social worker at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown (1947–1951).

Career

From about 1952 she worked full-time as a writer and researcher with The Bulletin magazine. She mainly worked with Douglas Stewart, particularly to research and collect historical Australian songs and bush ballads.

She was active in a number of literary associations, most notably the Australian Society of Authors. She edited the ASA journal The Australian Author from 1971 to 1974. She was chair of the Literature Board, Australia Council, 1974–1977. She was also active in the English Association and the Australian Jewish Historical Society. She became a council member of the Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education.

Her literary career covered several fields, including poetry, literary criticism, editing, children's novels and biography. One of her most well known works is Shalom, a collection of Australian Jewish stories. She wrote or edited 26 volumes.

Works

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  • Three men and Sydney 1955
  • Elsie Carew. Australian Primitive Poet 1965

Membership

Keesing was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 1979 Australian Day Honours for service to literature.

• Australian Society of Authors

• Australian Jewish Historical Society

• Winifred West Schools Limited

  1973 - 1978

• Winifred West Schools Limited

  1983 - 1988

• Solicitors Statutory Committee

  1983 - 1990

Personality

She wrote two memoirs: "Garden Island People" about her work on Garden Island, and "Riding the Elephant" mainly about her literary career.

Connections

She married Dr Mark Hertzberg, a chemical engineer. They had two children - a son and a daughter.