Michael Wilding (writer)

Michael Wilding (born 1942) is a British-born writer and academic who has spent most of his career at the University of Sydney, where he has been an emeritus professor in English and Australian literature since 2002.

Gangan Verlag book launch at the Goethe-Institut Sydney (1991)

Early life and education

Michael Wilding was born in 1942 in Worcester, England, and read English at Oxford University, where he graduated in 1963 with BA with first-class honours.^[1]

Academic career

Wilding took up an appointment as assistant lecturer at the University of Sydney in 1963, where he stayed for three years. He returned to England in 1967, earned his M.A., and took up a lectureship at the University of Birmingham.^[1]

In 1969, he became a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney and was promoted to Reader in English from 1973 to 1992. He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (D. Litt.) by the University of Sydney in 1993. That same year, he was appointed Professor of English and Australian Literature, a role he held until his retirement in 2000, after which he was named professor emeritus.^[1]

His scholarly work focused especially on 17th-century and early 18th-century English literature, such as by the poet John Milton, and Australian literature such as by Marcus Clarke, William Lane, Christina Stead).^[1]

Writing career

He was a creative writer associated with the "new writing" movement, whose members played a significant role in revitalizing Australian literature.^[1] His work was later described as "exciting and innovative" by Ross Fitzgerald in The Australian.^[2]

He has published many novels and short story collections,^[3] and has had his stories published widely in anthologies.^[1] His most widely referenced work has been the short story magazine, Tabloid Story, which he co-founded with Frank Moorhouse and Carmel Kelly in 1972 and which ran for 33 issues, until 1974.^[1]

Publishing

• Wilding was a founding editor of the University of Queensland Press's Asian & Pacific Writing series,^[4] which ran from 1972 to 1982^[5]
• He was a co-founder of the publishers Wild & Woolley, with Pat Woolley.^[4]

Reception

A critical study of his work, Michael Wilding and the Fiction of Instant Experience by Don Graham, was published in 2013.^[6]