HASLUCK LIBRARY

Cover notes:
"Student - lawyer - writer - arts administrator - traveller - observer. In this absorbing collection of 'offcuts', award -winning author Nicholas Hasluck involves the reader in his rich and varied world.

The subjects are provocative and wide-ranging: from artists' colonies to penal colonies: Australian bushrangers to the nature of the deep south of America: the Austaralia Council's funding of the arts to WA Inc.'s funding of business: Hasluck's own writing to the work of others.

The influence of the past on contemporary issues, the place of law and justice in society, and the relationship between fact and fiction are themes that are explored with intelligence, wit and compassion. Along the way a procession of people - some well-known, like Robert Holmes à Court and Patrick White: some anonymous, like the colourful crowd at Adelaide Writers Week - are vividly brought to life.

Offcuts is challenging and entertaining. With insight and self-deprecating humour, Hasluck reveals how the lawyer has shaped the writer, the writer the traveller, the traveller the observer. His sheer enjoyment in provoking good discussion is obvious on every page, and the reader will be delighted to know him.