James Cowan aggregated collection of literary papers

fonds

1961-2018

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Oral Histories

9661475

9.88 metres of textual material (61 boxes)
54 audiocassettes (4,000 minutes)
1091 slides - 35mm
54 transparencies - 35mm
41 megatives

James Granville Cowan is a versatile and widely published author of poetry, novels, plays, essays, feature articles, television and film scripts. He was born in Melbourne on 9 April 1942 and educated in Australia and Europe. In the 1960s he travelled and worked in Europe, Asia, Canada, USA and UK. His first book was a collection of poetry, Nine Poems (1964) and two years later a book of short stories, A Rambling Man, was published. In 1969 he became a manager with an air charter company operating from Tripoli, Libya. He travelled the Sahara, developing tourist destinations to West Africa along the old slave trade route, before returning to Australia in 1973. On his return he travelled throughout the country exploring early European culture and its imprint on the land. This led to the books The Mountain Men (1982), The River People (1983) and Starlight's Trail (1985). James Cowan then began a 10-year study of Australian Aboriginal culture which led him to work, study and live among Aboriginal people in the centre of Australia, the Far North and the Kimberley. This resulted in a series of books which explored indigenous spirituality, art and traditions: Mysteries of the Dream-Time (1990), Letters from a Wild State (1991), Sacred Places (1991), Messengers of the Gods (1993), Kun-Man-Gur: The Rainbow Serpent (1994) and Myths of the Dreaming, (1994). In the late 1990s he developed a new prose style which can be seen in later books such as The Mapmaker's Dream (1997), A Troubadour's Testament (2000), Francis: A Saints Way (2001), Journey to the Inner Mountain (2002) and Desert Father (2004).

COLLECTION 1:
James Cowan literary papers, 1964-1991

COLLECTION 2:
James Cowan further literary papers, 1961-2018

COLLECTION 3:
James Cowan further literary papers, 1959-2005