Tales from Trove: Discovering Australia's Lost Literary History

Join Katherine Bode as she explains how members of the public can help to ensure Australia’s literary history continue to thrive in the digital era. Image: National Library of Australia

The National Library of Australia’s digitisation of historical newspapers, and To Be Continued: The Australian Newspaper Fiction Database, have opened the pages of Australia’s literary past in new and surprising ways. Professor Katherine Bode will discuss some of the extraordinary stories and long-forgotten authors discovered in Trove’s digitised newspaper pages. These discoveries shed new light on Australia’s literary past, challenging and reshaping our traditional understanding of the nation’s literary heritage and the role of newspapers in fiction publishing internationally.

To Be Continued is a community project, and Professor Bode will explain how members of the public can join the ranks of dedicated volunteers contributing to the resurrection of forgotten narratives and ensuring that Australia’s literary history continues to thrive in the digital era. Demonstrating the continuing power of these stories, she will discuss the innovative podcast series that has emerged from the project, with expert insights and fiction readings taking listeners on new literary adventures. Whether you’re a literature enthusiast, a history buff, interested in contributing to Australia’s bibliographical record, or simply curious about the potential of fusing storytelling and digital innovation, this talk promises to open your eyes to a world of possibilities.

About Katherine Bode

Katherine Bode is a Professor of Literary and Textual Studies at the Australian National University. Her research explores literary phenomena with computational methods and computational phenomena with literary methods. She has published extensively on computational literary studies, literary data curation, and digital humanities research including in books such as Reading by Numbers (2012) and A World of Fiction (2018).

Join the Friends for this special presentation, in-person at the Library and live-streamed via Zoom.

The Zoom link will be emailed one week, and again, one day prior to the event.

Become a Friend of the National Library

The details:

What: Tales from Trove: Discovering Australia’s Lost Literary History
When: Friday, 16 February 2024 from 6 pm to 7 pm
Where: National Library of Australia and online.
Cost: $10 for Friends members, $15 for non-members. Get tickets here.