This subseries is comprised of:
Folder 1 An imaginary life. Based on the novel by David Malouf. The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. Folded sheet with insert. First performed on 19 Feb 1986. With associated review. Blood relations. The State Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company. 1987. 24p. Voss. The Australian Opera at the Sydney Opera House. 18 Oct 1990. Single-leaf sheet. Contained in a red folder with gilt-embossed title and string. Also contains six cards in envelopes addressed to Malouf.

Folder 2 Mer de Glace. The Australian Opera, 1991. Baa-baa black sheep. An opera in three acts. Music by Michael Berkeley. Cheltenham International Festival of Music 3 Jul 1993. [and] Opera North 15 (Leeds, UK). 13, 16, 17 and 19 Nov 1993.

Folder 3 1914. Inspired by Fly Away Peter. The Australian Ballet. 7-27 Apr 1998. Exotic pleasures. From stories of Peter Carey and David Malouf. Theatre of Image at the Seymour Centre at the University of Sydney. York Theatre. 12 Mar to 3 Apr 1999. A3 broadsheet programme. [Mary Ellen Snodgrass: Peter Carey. A literary companion dates this adaptation to mid-January 1999, and describes it as a ‘dance-cinema-puppet montage’. In January 1999 Theatre of Image offered a workshop based on Exotic Pleasures at Macquarie University. With copies of newspaper reviews. Johnno. Adapted for the stage by Stephen Edwards. Derby Playhouse and La Boite Theatre. 14 Jul – 5 Aug 2006. Powerhouse Theatre.

Comprises: The Long View. For male choir. Music by Noel Ancell. The Crab Feast. For piano and percussion. Music by Eve Duncan. An die Musik. For SATB choir. By Andrew Ford. The text is based on Malouf’s poem of the same name, poems by Gwen Harwood and Thomas Shapcott as well as folk poems from Malaysia, the Pueblo Indians and Finland.

Ransom retells the story of the Iliad from books 22 to 24. This subseries has manuscript and typescript drafts, with handwritten emendations. By close textual comparison (including with the published novel), these versions have been put into the order in which they were likely produced.

Literary awards and nominations include:
2010 winner International Awards — John D. Criticos Prize. Awarded to David Malouf for his novel Ransom.
2010 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction - for Ransom.
2010 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal ... presented to David Malouf for his novel Ransom.
2010 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction - for Ransom.
2011 shortlisted International Awards — International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - for Ransom.

Unpublished typescripts by David Malouf.

Ephemera relating to awards won by Malouf.
Comprises flyers for:
1982 winner The Age Book of the Year Award — Book of the Year - Fly Away Peter.
1988 Programme for the Inaugural Pascall Prize: Australian 'Critic of the Year', won by David Malouf.
2004 Certificate of Appreciation to David Malouf, Winner of the 2004 One Book One Brisbane Reading Campaign.
2010 winner International Awards — John D. Criticos Prize. Awarded to David Malouf for his novel Ransom.
2010 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction - for Ransom.
2010 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal ... presented to David Malouf for his novel Ransom.
2010 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction - for Ransom.
2011 shortlisted International Awards — International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - for Ransom.

Correspondence from Thomas Shapcott – 151 letters (1975 to 2011)
Comprises:
[File 1]: 1975 to 1977 - 12 letters.
[File 2]: 1982 to 1989 – 71 letters
[File 3]: undated, 1990 to 2011 – 68 letters

Correspondence from Rosemary Dobson [Rosemary de Brissac Dobson – Rosemary Bolton] and Alec Bolton / Brindabella Press – 37 letters (1974 – 2012).
Comprises:
[File 1]: 1974 to 2012

Correspondence from Jeffrey Smart – 26 letters (undated, 1978 to 2012)
[File 1]: 1978 to 1991; 1999; 2012. In a letter of 13 Sep 1980 Smart writes: ‘Dear David, It’s midnight. I’ve come down to the studio to look again at your portrait […] it is, I feel sure, the best picture I have ever painted.’

Comprised of two drafts:

1. 'The Aspern Papers', opera in one act from the story by Henry James, typescript with extensive emendations and cut and paste inserts, 21 leaves, [David Malouf’s 2017 note: First written for the Canadian composer Owen Underhill. Commission fell through. Set by Melbourne composer Eve Duncan. Not yet commissioned for performance].
2. 'The Aspern Papers : a chamber opera. Scene One'. Libretto by David Malouf. Based on a story by Henry James, 82 pages, with letter from Eve Duncan, 6 Aug 2013. Spiral bound.

Comprises: Jeffrey Smart 1921 – 2013. Recondita armonia – Strange harmonies of contrast. Curated by David Malouf. University of Sydney Art Gallery. 2 Nov 2013 to7 Mar 2014. Exhibition catalogue. 16p. With an introduction by Malouf. Card inserted. David Malouf and Friends. Museum of Brisbane. Exhibition catalogue. 16 May to 23 Nov 2014.
Souvenir programme of the Opening Celebrations of the Queensland Performing Arts Complex, (1985). Booklet in folder. With an Ode by David Malouf [p13-14].
Booklet for The Man Booker International Prize 2011.
Flyer by Chatto & Windus for An Imaginery Life and The Great World.
Poster by Penguin Australian Authors for David Malouf.
Flyers by Penguin Australian Authors for David Malouf.
Flyer by Random House fo David Malouf. Poems on the Underground. 1,000 years of poetry in English. Poster produced by the London Transport Museum, reproducing Malouf’s poem Thaw. [Rolled, loose in box]