The Observer Effect: Sept 8

This Sunday on The Observer Effect, Ellen Fanning talks to author Blanche d’Alpuget and former Labor man Warren Mundine.

With the release of her first work of fiction in 20 years; The Young Lion, Ellen takes a look at the person who divided the nation when she replaced the much-loved Hazel Hawke as Bob Hawke’s wife.

Blanche d’Alpuget is more than just “the other woman”. She is an acclaimed novelist, biographer and essayist. She has won numerous literary awards, among them the inaugural Australasian Prize for Commonwealth Literature in1987. Several of her earlier novels were also bestsellers including Turtle Beach, which won the Age Book of the Year and was made into a feature film starring Greta Scacchi and Jack Thompson; Monkeys in the Dark; Winter in Jerusalem and White Eye. Her non-fiction works include Mediator: A Biography of Sir Richard Kirby; Robert J. Hawke: A Biography; On Longing and Hawke: The Prime Minister. These works won her a number of literary prizes, including the PEN Golden Jubilee Award and aforementioned Australasian Prize for Commonwealth Literature.

After now being married to Bob Hawke for 18 years, Blanche will look back at how her early life educated her. From growing up on her father’s yachts, enjoying the great outdoors, to Bohemian adventures through South East Asia and Middle East as a young woman, to her literary career, writing novels and chronicling the lives of 12th century heroes. Blanche d’Alpuget knows the ups and down of Australian celebrity better than most, and this Sunday on The Observer Effect she reflects on her life in the glare of unrelenting media coverage.

Warren Mundine will also join Ellen Fanning on the program this Sunday. Once ‘Labor’s great black hope’, since the end of 2012 Mundine has forsaken Labor and become a visible supporter of Tony Abbott. This Sunday Mundine will discuss life in the Australian political landscape in light of the election outcome and his new relationship with Tony Abbott.

Sunday 8 September at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.