Johnno is Malouf’s most outwardly autobiographical novel and has been much praised as a realistic presentation of wartime Brisbane. It traces the childhood and early adult life of the narrator, and his relationship with the school rebel Johnno until Johnno’s untimely death. It was first published in 1975. This series includes two typescripts (both carbon copies) of the original manuscript version of Johnno. The earlier copy has extensive handwritten reworking by Malouf and uses the name “Johnny” throughout. In the later copy is again reworked and the author has manually changed “Johnny” to “Johnno.” There are significant textural alterations, cuts and additions, between these two drafts. Earlier drafts of the manuscript are held in the National Library of Australia collection and the top copy is held in the Fryer Library University of Queensland Press Archive. These typescripts provide a valuable link between the two. Published in 1975 by University of Queensland Press.

Bicycle and Other Poems is Malouf’s first book of poetry, published by UQP in 1970, and later published in the United States as The Year of the Foxes and Other Poems (1979). This subseries contains two folders of poems that appear in the 1970 publication by UQP. Many have handwritten corrections and notes by the author giving the place and date of composition for some poems and where each poem was initially published.