Mark O'Flynn literary papers for 'The Last Days of Ava Langdon' and 'Eleanor & Eve', 2002-2015.

MLMSS 11363

fonds

2002-2015

9604916

0.16 metres of textual material (1 box)

Mark O’Flynn is a writer born in Melbourne and now living in the Blue Mountains.
He has written dramatic plays, five collections of poems, as well as four novels and short fiction. He was a member of the Board of Varuna Writers House for five years.
His short stories, articles, reviews, and poems have appeared in a wide range of journals and magazines both here and overseas including Australian Book Review, The Bulletin, The Good Weekend, Heat, Westerly, Meanjin, Southerly, Island, Overland, New Australian Stories, Picador New Writing, and many others.
In 2017 his novel The Last Days of Ava Langdon was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. The character of Ava in the novel is based on Eve Langley (1904-1974) a writer from NSW. She published two critically acclaimed novels in her lifetime The Pea Pickers (1942) and White Topee (1954) as well as writing poetry. She spent almost 20 years in New Zealand, where she was married and had three children with her husband Hilary Clarke. She returned to Sydney and was known for her eccentric and reclusive lifestyle in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains during the latter part of her life.
Eleanor and Eve is a play written by Mark O’Flynn in 2002. It is described as “a literary mystery, a fictionalised meeting of two great writers who never met”. It is based on Eve Langley and another writer Eleanor Dark who also lived in the Blue Mountains area at the same time.
Reference: Library acquisition file

7 folders of manuscript material, including: handwritten draft of the novel ‘The Last Days of Ava Langdon’ dated 10 August 2014, 5 printed drafts of the novel ‘The Last Days of Ava Langdon’ with hand written annotations. Each draft shows substantial and comprehensive annotations regarding the reworking, editing, redrafting and development of the author’s thinking about the subject. In the first handwritten version for example, the name Eve Langley is crossed out and replaced with ‘Ava Bingley’ which would eventually become Ava Langdon.
Also includes a final printed draft of play script ‘Eleanor & Eve’, which features the central character Eve Langley, the inspiration behind the titular character in his finished novel.

Copyright status:: In copyright
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales