RAHS Day Lecture – Sylvia Lawson’s Journey from Film Critic to Historian

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 7 August 2024 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000

Cost: Free

Event Description:

In 1983, the Australian film critic Sylvia Lawson published her first book The Archibald Paradox. The work originated after Sylvia, ‘rummaging around’ the Bulletin magazine’s old headquarters, ahead of the sale of the storied magazine to media mogul Frank Packer, found a set of exercise notebooks which housed the makings of J.F. Archibald’s handwritten memoirs. In this talk, we will look at how Australia’s finest mid-century film critic became one of its boldest biographers and historians.

About the speaker:

Sam Twyford-Moore is the author of The Rapids: Ways of Looking at Mania (published by NewSouth Publishing and the University of Toronto Press). His second book Cast Mates: Australian Actors in Hollywood and at Home was released in 2023. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to a wide range of titles. He is currently a PhD candidate within the Australian Centre for Public History at the University of Technology, Sydney.