Rosalie Ham

Ham was born in {{birth based on age as of date|65|2020|10|23|noage=1}}{{cite interview |first1= Sue| last1=Maslin|first2= Rosalie| last2=Ham| author2-link=Rosalie Ham| interviewer-last=Horsburgh | interviewer-first=Susan |title=Two of Us with author of The Dressmaker, Rosalie Ham, and film producer Sue Maslin |website=The Sydney Morning Herald| series= Good Weekend |date=23 October 2020 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-dressmaker-was-a-stressmaker-but-it-brought-two-friends-together-after-30-years-20200910-p55uae.html |access-date=14 December 2024| quote=Writer Rosalie Ham, 65 (right), and producer Sue Maslin, 61, attended boarding school together in the 1970s.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125091209/https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-dressmaker-was-a-stressmaker-but-it-brought-two-friends-together-after-30-years-20200910-p55uae.html| archive-date=25 Nov 2020| url-status=live }} and raised in Jerilderie, in rural New South Wales.{{cite web|url=http://www.mmg.com.au/local-news/finley/movie-deal-for-jerilderie-born-author-1.51809|title=Movie deal for Jerilderie-born author|accessdate=8 April 2015| archive-date=14 April 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414031526/http://www.mmg.com.au/local-news/finley/movie-deal-for-jerilderie-born-author-1.51809}} Talking about her childhood Ham said, "Being a farmer's daughter, I had a fabulous childhood – swimming in creeks and irrigation channels, riding a horse behind a slow moving flock of ewes, rousabouting, cutting wood and setting the fire after school every day in winter, learning to drive aged nine so I could help with Bathurst burr cutting and other slow-moving country driving tasks."{{cite web|url=http://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speaker/author/rosalie-ham/|title=Rosalie Ham Author|accessdate=8 April 2015}}

She attended Finley High School for two years. Later she attended St Margaret's School, Melbourne, along with Sue Maslin, and finished her secondary education in 1972.

In 1996, after working as a nurse for 21 years, she graduated from RMIT with an Advanced Diploma of Arts in Professional Writing and Editing, following it up with a Master of Arts in Creative Writing in 2007.

Ham worked as a nurse for twenty-one years until October 2005, when the nursing home she worked at closed down.

After completing her secondary education, Ham travelled overseas{{cite web|url=https://steepstairs.wordpress.com/2002/04/05/interview-with-rosalie-ham/|title=Interview with Rosalie Ham|accessdate=8 April 2015}} and on her return took admission in Deakin University (then Victoria College). She completed a Bachelor of Education majoring in Drama and Literature in 1989.{{cite web|url=http://www.readhowyouwant.co.nz/catalog/authors/7760/Rosalie%20Ham.aspx|title=Ham, Rosalie|accessdate=8 April 2015}} On the request of her friend, she started writing stage and radio plays. She wrote four plays but soon find out that "(she) didn't want to write plays because I didn't like the theatre thing".

Ham has described herself as an "accidental novelist".{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/the-jerilderie-letters/2005/11/19/1132017023986.html|title=The Jerilderie letters|accessdate=8 April 2015}} In 1996, she enrolled in the writing programme of RMIT University but on her arrival she found that it was already full. As she was leaving, novelist Antoni Jach advised her to take a novel course instead. In novel-writing class, she got an assignment of "a 500-word synopsis of her book", which she recalled "I had an idea and started writing it. Then you had to hand in 3,000 words, and then you had to hand in 10,000 words, and I had 30,000 words. It was only three weeks before I realised that this was the best 'accident' that had ever occurred to me."{{cite web|url=http://karenkissane.com/2001/03/an-accidental-author/|title=An accidental author|accessdate=10 November 2014}} Ham completed this novel in three years. She graduated from RMIT with an Advanced Diploma of Arts in Professional Writing and Editing in 1996, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing in 2007.

Several of Ham's novels are international bestsellers, and have been translated into a number of languages.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

On 1 January 2000, Ham's debut novel The Dressmaker was published by Duffy & Snellgrove.{{cite book|title=The Dressmaker Paperback by Rosalie Ham|isbn=1875989706 |last1=Ham |first1=Rosalie |date=2000 |publisher=Duffy & Snellgrove }}

Ham released her second novel, Summer at Mount Hope, in 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.duffyandsnellgrove.com.au/dd-product/summer-at-mount-hope/|title=Summer at Mount Hope - Rosalie Ham|accessdate=22 March 2015}} She also wrote the novel, like her debut The Dressmaker, while studying a creative writing course at RMIT University.{{cite web|url=http://www.aroundyou.com.au/whats-on/events/book-bites-meet-rosalie-ham|title=Book Bites – Meet Rosalie Ham|accessdate=22 March 2015}} The novel drew strong comparison to Jane Austen's works, with The Sydney Morning Herald's review saying: "Ham tries hard to interject some social commentary into the story by including all these elements into her novel but Summer at Mount Hope is more unabashed romance set against a backdrop of grapes, dust and drought than a historical document. This is light summer reading; a period-drama with the requisite sunny, fluffy-cloud ending."{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/summer-at-mount-hope/2005/12/13/1134236049529.html|title=Summer at Mount Hope|accessdate=22 March 2015}}

There Should be More Dancing is the third novel written by Ham, released in 2011. The novel revolves around a woman in her seventies, looking back at her life and reflecting on "what went wrong".{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/rosalie-ham/there-should-be-more-dancing-9781864711912.aspx|title=There Should Be More Dancing by Rosalie Ham|accessdate=31 March 2015}} The Sydney Morning Herald said that, "Ham's skill in disguising her informed eloquence on a serious subject behind sparkling, entertaining prose. Senior citizens will wave their walkers in relief and delight: help is at hand."{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-age-of-enlightenment-20110922-1klsd.html|title=The age of enlightenment|accessdate=31 March 2015}}

The Year of the Farmer was released in 2018.{{cite web |title=THE YEAR OF THE FARMER |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760558901/ |website=Pan Macmillan Australia |publisher=Macmillan |date=30 October 2018}}

Released in 2020, The Dressmaker's Secret is a sequel to 2000's The Dressmaker and continues the story of Tilly Dunnage, now an accomplished dressmaker at an atelier in Melbourne, as her past catches up to her.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Ham has written short stories for various Australian publications, including Meanjin, The Age, and The Bulletin.{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com.au/authors/rosalie-ham.aspx|title=Rosalie Ham|accessdate=8 April 2015}}

All of Ham's novels have been set in small communities of Australia. She has admitted that if she wrote an urban novel, her style of writing would be changed with the change in landscape, which she does not want to do.{{cite web|url=http://www.readings.com.au/interview/rosalie-ham-0|title=Rosalie Ham by Michelle Griffin|accessdate=22 March 2015}} In all her novels, revenge, gossip, love, betrayal, small communities, isolation, treachery, manipulation and human nature are the common themes.

{{Main|The Dressmaker (2015 film)}}

Ham initially sold the film rights of The Dressmaker in the mid-2000s and wrote a screenplay, but the project never took off.{{cite web|url=http://steepstairs.wordpress.com/2002/04/05/interview-with-rosalie-ham/|title=Interview with Rosalie Ham|accessdate=13 November 2014}}

Producer Sue Maslin had been at school with Ham and reconnected with the author after the initial project was shelved. Maslin optioned the rights of the novel in 2009{{cite web|url=http://www.kftv.com/news/2013/09/20/kate-winslet-heads-to-australia-for-the-dressmaker|title=Kate Winslet heads to Australia for The Dressmaker|accessdate=24 March 2015}} and brought Jocelyn Moorhouse on board to direct and write the screenplay.{{cite web|url=http://www.artshub.co.uk/news-article/news/film/kate-winslett-an-english-rose-for-an-aussie-outback-story-196271|title=Kate Winslett will play opposite Judy Davis in a big-budget film of 'The Dressmaker' to begin shooting early next year.|accessdate=21 October 2014}} Kate Winslet and Judy Davis were cast in the roles of Myrtle "Tilly" and Molly Dunnage respectively in August 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kate-winslet-judy-davis-star-602045|title=Kate Winslet, Judy Davis to Star in Revenge Dramedy 'The Dressmaker'|website=The Hollywood Reporter |accessdate=17 October 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/kate-winslet-dressmaker.html|title=Kate Winslet Signs on for The Dressmaker|accessdate=8 April 2015}} Ham herself made an appearance as an extra.{{cite web|url=http://www.rosalieham.com/#!The-learning-curve/c1qcq/54feaf5b0cf2458597933dcf|title=The learning curve|accessdate=8 April 2015}}

The film opened at the number 1 spot at the Australian and New Zealand box offices in 2015 and became the second highest-grossing Australian film of the year and 11th highest-grossing film of all time at the Australian box office.{{cite web|url=http://if.com.au/2016/02/01/article/The-Dressmaker-cracks-20m/ZRHJNLVWFC.html|title=The Dressmaker cracks 20m|accessdate=14 December 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202060801/http://if.com.au/2016/02/01/article/The-Dressmaker-cracks-20m/ZRHJNLVWFC.html|archivedate=2 February 2016|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/3550732/top-yarn-measures-up/|title=The Dressmaker voted Favourite Australia Film in The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards 2015|accessdate=19 December 2015}} The film won multiple awards as well.{{cite news |title=The Dressmaker leads AACTA Awards noms|url=http://if.com.au/2015/10/28/article/The-Dressmaker-leads-AACTA-Awards-noms/EIEHPTFHWC.html|accessdate =29 October 2015}}

{{as of|2014}} Ham was a part-time literature teacher at Trinity College at the University of Melbourne, and RMIT University TAFE.{{cite web|url=http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2014/08/crafting-success-author-rosalie-ham-talks-dressmaker/|title=Crafting success: Author Rosalie Ham talks The Dressmaker|accessdate=8 April 2015}}

Ham and her husband Ian McLay, a stage builder, were living in Brunswick, Melbourne, in 2005.

• The Dressmaker (2000)
• Summer at Mount Hope (2005)
• There Should be More Dancing (2011)
• The Year of the Farmer (2018)
• The Dressmaker’s Secret (2020)
• Molly (2024)

{{reflist|2}}

• {{Official website|http://www.rosalieham.com/}}
• {{IMDb name|5672426|Rosalie Ham}}

{{Rosalie Ham}}

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Category:1955 births

Category:21st-century Australian novelists

Category:21st-century Australian women writers

Category:Australian dramatists and playwrights

Category:Australian women novelists

Category:Living people

Category:RMIT University alumni

Category:Writers from New South Wales