Award-winning investigative journalist and political biographer Margaret Simons was hesitant about undertaking a biography of Tanya Plibersek until she made a surprising discovery of their shared enthusiasm for Jane Austen.

Here, Simons discusses the differences between authorised and unauthorised biography and which Austen character Plibersek most resembles. She also talks about the impact of Plibersek’s background as the daughter of migrants, her strengths and weaknesses, the character of her ambition, her victories and setbacks, and the one interview she failed to secure.

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