Cassandra Pybus

Cassandra Pybus

BornCassandra Jean Pybus
(1947-09-29) 29 September 1947 (age 77)
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Occupation
  • Historian
  • biographer
  • academic
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAustralian
EducationNorth Sydney Girls High School
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
Notable awardsColin Roderick Award (1993)
National Biography Award (2021)

Cassandra Jean Pybus FAHA (born 29 September 1947) is an Australian historian and writer. She is a former professorial fellow in history at the University of Sydney, and has published extensively on Australian and American history.[1]

Pybus was born in Hobart, Tasmania and educated at North Sydney Girls High School and the University of Sydney.[2] Her mother, Betty Pybus, was a pioneer of women's health in Sydney and Tasmania.[3]

From 1989 to 1994, Pybus was editor of the literary magazine Island. She won the Colin Roderick Award in 1993 for Gross Moral Turpitude, a re-examination of the case of Sydney Sparkes Orr, a Northern Irish academic who became embroiled in a scandal involving a relationship with a student whilst working at the University of Tasmania.[4] In 2000, she won an Adelaide Festival Award for Literature for The Devil and James McAuley, a biography of the poet James McAuley.[5]

Pybus was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for outstanding contribution to Tasmanian and Australian literature and education.[6]

In 2020 she was shortlisted for the Nonfiction Book Award at the Queensland Literary Awards for Truganini[7] and for the Nonfiction prize at the 2021 Indie Book Awards[8] as well as the 2021 Biography book of the year at the Australian Book Industry Awards with Truganini.[9] In August 2021 she won the National Biography Award with Truganini,[10] while in November 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.[11]

  1. ^ "Professor Cassandra Pybus". Department of History. University of Sydney. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  2. ^ Who's Who in Australia, ConnectWeb
  3. ^ "Betty Jean Vyvyan Pybus OAM". Honour Roll of Women. Government of Tasmania. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Colin Roderick Award". James Cook University. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  5. ^ "Tasmania: The Tipping Point?". University of Sydney. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  6. ^ "PYBUS, Cassandra". It's an Honour. Australian Government. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  7. ^ "Queensland Literary Awards 2020 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 5 August 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Indie Book Awards 2021 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 20 January 2021. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  9. ^ "ABIA 2021 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  10. ^ "National Biography Award winner's announced on ABC Sydney". ABC Radio. 5 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  11. ^ "Fellow Profile: Cassandra Pybus". Australian Academy of the Humanities. Retrieved 4 August 2024.