The Sydney Morning herald has a story about the Patrick White day being run by the National Library in Canberra, next Friday 30th March.
“Nicholas Pounder, the dealer who advised on the purchase, favours some mundane items that reveal the writer as mortal: a letter of encouragement from his London housekeeper when he was in New York trying to find a publisher and a file of “frugal” recipes.”
The day ends with a dinner based on the guy’s own recipes, at $100 a pop (so I’m guessing they aren’t the “frugal” recipes mentioned above). The National Library acquired a stack of papers belonging to Patrick White last year, which was a bit of a surprise considering he had always claimed that he destroyed everything, including his letters and drafts of his books.
http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/undercover/010508.html