Frank Hardy

Frank Hardy (1917–1994) was a left-wing novelist and writer from Australia.

Related Topics:
1917 - 1994 - Left-wing - Novelist - Writer - Australia

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Frank Hardy was born into a Roman Catholic family in 1917 and lived in Bacchus Marsh, west of Melbourne. In 1930 at the age of 13 he left school and started a series of manual jobs. As a result of his experiences during the Depression, Hardy joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1939. In 1942 he enlisted in the Army and was posted to Darwin. Initially editing and writing a unit newspaper for the Australian army, he was employed as an artist for the army journal Salt. He continued to work in journalism for most of his life.

Related Topics:
Bacchus Marsh - Melbourne - Communist Party of Australia

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His most famous work, Power Without Glory, initially published by Hardy himself with the assistance of Communist Party members, was filmed by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) in the 1970s. The novel was a fictionalised version of the life of a Melbourne businessman, John Wren, and was set in the fictitious Melbourne suburb of Carringbush (based on the actual suburb Collingwood). In 1950, Hardy was arrested for criminal libel and had to defend the book in a celebrated case shortly after the publication of Power Without Glory. Hardy detailed the case in his book "The Hard Way".

Related Topics:
Power Without Glory - Australian Broadcasting Commission - 1970s - Melbourne - John Wren - Collingwood - 1950 - Libel

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Hardy was a member of the Realist Writers Group, who he represented at the Third World Youth Festival for Peace in Berlin.

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Hardy's sister, Mary Hardy was a popular television personality in the 1970s in Australia.

Related Topics:
Mary Hardy - 1970s

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