Robert Dessaix was producer and presenter of ABC Radio National's Books and Writing from 1985 to 1995. Born in Sydney in 1944, he studied Russian Language and Literature at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he also taught for some 20 years.

After joining the ABC, he began to publish short fiction and essays and co-edited Picador New Writing (1993). His books include the critically acclaimed A Mother's Disgrace (1994) and his bestselling first novel Night Letters (1996), which won the ABA Book of the Year Award and the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal. This was followed by Secrets, written with Drusilla Modjeska and Amanda Lohrey. Other books include Corfu and Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev, which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction in 2005.

In 1997 a selection of Robert Dessaix's short fiction, essays and journalism was published to rave reviews and won the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies H.T. Priestley Medal (Best Book of the Year, 1998).

He lives in Tasmania.


Previous Titles
A Mother's Disgrace
Night Letters
Corfu