Award-winning author and biographer Blanche D’Alpuget has died aged 82.
D’Alpuget was married to Bob Hawke for 24 years before his death on the eve of the federal election in May 2019.
The 82-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, less than a year after her husband’s death.
Her family confirmed her death in a statement, first reported by the ABC.
“We will miss her force, her humour, her curiosity and her love beyond measure,” the statement read.
No cause of death has been revealed.
D’Alpuget was also a celebrated novelist, with her novel Turtle Beach winning The Age’s Novel of the Year award in 1981 and was eventually turned into a feature film starring Jack Thompson.
She also wrote Hawke’s biography which eventually won the NSW Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction.
Tributes have poured in, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sharing a statement following the news of the author’s death.
“With the passing of Blanche d’Alpuget overnight, Australia has lost a true one-off,” he began in his statement.
“As a writer, she was at home in fiction as she was in non-fiction, working in each realm with a keen eye for every telling detail that opened up the humanity of her subject to her readers.
“Blanche’s novels were compelling works of verve and originality, and her biographies comprehensive and definitive – most famously those she wrote of Bob Hawke, who became her great love and ultimately her husband,” he continued.
“It is so fitting that Blanche’s final message to us all is this: “Our highest calling and greatest achievement is love, the rule of life. Love one another.”
“Our hearts right now with her family and all who loved her. May Blanche d’Alpuget rest in peace.”
Hawke and D’Alpuget first met in the 1970s and began an affair which eventually led to their marriage in 1995.
D’Alpuget was Hawke’s biographer in the early 1980s. At the time, she was married to diplomat Antony Pratt, while Hawke was married to his first wife Hazel. The former got divorced in 1986, while Hawke split from his first wife in 1994 .
The relationship between D’Alpuget was Hawke was described as an “open secret”.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/ Eva Rinaldi
