Robert Dessaix

Robert Dessaix's best-known books are the autobiography A Mother's Disgrace, the novel Night Letters and his reflections on Turgenev, Twilight of Love. Travel, especially around the Mediterranean and India, is a major theme in his writing. After teaching Russian literature for many years at Australian universities, he presented the weekly Books and Writing program on ABC Radio National. He has also published translations from Dostoyevsky, Turgenev and several Russian poets. His most recent publications are the memoirs What Days Are For (a meditation on what makes for a good life in the face of death), The Time of Our Lives (about ageing well) and Chameleon (on sex, God and Morocco).