Morris Lurie (b. 1938) is a Melbourne-based author of fiction. Born to Jewish parents who had fled Poland before World War 2, he studied architecture and worked in advertising before turning to writing full-time. His first novel, Rappaport, was published in 1966, during eight years he spent overseas. He has since published more than thirty books including The London Jungle Adventures of Charlie Hope (1968), Seven Books for Grossman (1983) Flying Home (1978), selected by the National Book Council as one of the ten best Australian books of its decade, and the Bicentennial Award-winning autobiography, Whole Life (1987). His adult fiction combines Bellow/Roth-style 'Jewish humour' with an interest in cultural and emotional alienation; as he has remarked, they are 'funny on the surface, but what I'm talking about is not really funny'. Amongst his several books for children is the popular Twenty-Seventh Annual African Hippopotamus Race (1969). Often published in the Australian journals Meanjin and Quadrant, many of his short stories have also appeared in overseas publications including The New Yorker, Punch and the Times of London.
Purchased 2004
© Estate of Francis Reiss
The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the
Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a
Reproduction request. For further information please contact
NPG Copyright.
