{{Short description|Australian photographer and author (1937–2023)}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox writer | name = Lee Harding | image = | caption = | pseudonym = Harold G. Nye | birth_name = Lee John Harding | birth_date = {{birth date|1937|02|19|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Colac, Victoria]], Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|4|19|1937|02|19|df=y}} | death_place = [[Perth, Western Australia]], Australia | occupation = Photographer, writer | nationality = [[Australia|Australian]] | period = 1958–1997 | genre = [[Science fiction]] | subject = | movement = | website = | imagesize = | influences = | influenced = }}
'''Lee John Harding''' (19 February 1937 – 19 April 2023) was an Australian freelance photographer, who became a writer of [[science fiction]] novels and short stories.
==Career== Harding was born on 19 February 1937, in [[Colac, Victoria]].<ref name="Locusmag">{{Cite web |date=2023-05-01 |title=Lee Harding (1937-2023) |url=https://locusmag.com/2023/05/lee-harding-1937-2023/ |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=Locus Online |language=en-US}}</ref> He was a fan of science fiction and was among the founding members of the [[Melbourne Science Fiction Club]].<ref name = "ASFF">{{cite web|title= A. Bertram Chandler Award 2006 presented to Lee Harding|publisher= Australian Science Fiction Foundation|url= http://asff.org.au/chandler-award-2006-harding.htm|accessdate= 13 August 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160107102511/http://asff.org.au/chandler-award-2006-harding.htm|archive-date= 7 January 2016|url-status= dead}}</ref>
Harding's first published work appeared in the Sydney photographic magazine ''Photo Digest'' in 1958: a photographic coverage of the filming of ''[[On the Beach (1959 film)|On the Beach]]'', a 1959 adaptation of [[Nevil Shute]]'s novel ''[[On the Beach (novel)|On the Beach]]'', in [[Melbourne]] and [[Frankston, Victoria|Frankston]] locations, accompanied by a personal written record of his adventures. This led to a request for a regular monthly column for the magazine on 35mm photography, and a subsequent photographic and written coverage of the filming of ''[[The Sundowners (1960 film)|The Sundowners]]'' in [[Cooma]].
In 1961 Harding's first published short story, ''Displaced Person'', was published in ''[[Science Fantasy (magazine)|Science Fantasy]]''.<ref name = "ASFF"/> He continued to write and submit stories to a range of magazines, including ''[[New Worlds (magazine)|New Worlds]]'', ''[[Science Fantasy (magazine)|Science Fantasy]]'', and ''[[Science Fiction Adventures (British magazine)|Science Fiction Adventures]]'' (UK). In 1966, he became an editorial partner for the [[fanzine]] ''Australian SF Review'' (ASFR).<ref name = "ASFF"/> In 1969 Harding then went on to write for the joint Australian/UK SF magazine ''Vision of Tomorrow'', set up by Ron Graham, plus had stories published in US magazines ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'', ''[[If (magazine)|If]]'' and ''Odyssey'', and also Australian magazines, including the ''Melbourne Sun'' newspaper. For [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Education Radio]], he wrote two 12–part science fiction serials, ''Journey Into Time'' and ''The Legend of New Earth'', and dramatised the H.G. Wells story "[[The Man Who Could Work Miracles (short story)|The Man Who Could Work Miracles]]" for the same programme.
From 1972 Harding switched from photography to writing full-time. He published four short paperback novels in [[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell Australia]]'s education series for reluctant readers: ''The Fallen Spaceman'', ''Children of Atlantis'', ''The Frozen Sky'', and ''Return to Tomorrow''. His first adult novel, ''A World of Shadows'' was published in 1975 and in the same year he edited the Australian science fiction anthologies ''Beyond Tomorrow'' and ''The Altered I'', with assistance from Rob Gerrand and [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. In 1978 he edited ''Rooms of Paradise'', which was also published in the US and UK. Several stories from the latter were also re-printed in the annual US publication, ''[[The Year's Best Science Fiction]]''. Four novels followed, including ''[[Displaced Person (novel)|Displaced Person]]'', adapted from his earlier short story, for which he received the 1980 Australian Children's Book of The Year Award.<ref name = "lib">{{cite web|title= Australian Library Collections|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= http://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/apps/kss?action=Display&mode=fulldisplay&target=freenbd&queryid=2&startPos=2|accessdate= 17 September 2007}}</ref> In 1997, he published the non-science fiction novel ''Heartsease''.<ref name = "austlit">{{cite web|title= Harding, Lee (a.k.a. Harding, Lee John)|publisher= Aus tLit|url= http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A%2BEG|accessdate= 17 September 2007}}</ref> Harding has also written short stories using the pseudonym, ''Harold G Nye''.<ref name = "austlit"/>
Harding died on 19 April 2023, in [[Perth, Western Australia]].<ref name="Locusmag" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Glyer |first1=Mike |title=Hard to believe he’s no longer with us: Lee Harding (1937–2023) |url=https://file770.com/hard-to-believe-hes-no-longer-with-us-lee-harding-1937-2023/ |website=File 770 |access-date=8 September 2023 |date=20 April 2023}}</ref>
==Awards== * 1970 – [[Ditmar Award results|Ditmar Award]]: Best Australian Science Fiction for ''Dancing Gerontius''<ref name="ditspillers">{{Cite web |title=A Winning History |url=http://www.ditspillers.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820052416/http://www.ditspillers.com/ |archive-date=20 August 2006 |access-date=10 January 2021 |website=Australian Ditmar Awards |publisher=Tony Plank}}(Click on "Winners History" to access relevant page.)</ref> * 1972 – Ditmar Award: Best Australian Fiction for ''Fallen Spaceman''<ref name="ditspillers" /> * 1978 – Alan Marshall Short Story Award for an unpublished manuscript ''Displaced Person''<ref name = "Mid">{{cite web|title= Lee Harding - Brief Biography|publisher= Perry Middlemiss|url= http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/hardingl/hardingl.html|accessdate= 17 September 2007}}</ref> * 1980 – Winner of the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award for ''Displaced Person''<ref name = "lib"/> * 2006 – Australian Science Fiction Foundation, [[Chandler Award]] in gratitude for his life's work.<ref name = "ASFF"/>
Harding also received three Australia Council Fellowships from the [[Creative Australia|Australian Council for the Arts Literature Board]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}
==Bibliography==
===Novels=== * ''The Fallen Spaceman'' (Cassell Australia, 1973) (revised & republished in 1979 by Harper & Row) * ''Children of Atlantis'' (Cassell Australia, 1974) * ''A World of Shadows'' (Hale, 1975) * ''The Frozen Sky'' (Cassell Australia, 1975) * ''Return to Tomorrow'' (Cassell Australia, 1976) * ''Future Sanctuary'' (Laser Books New York #41, Sept. 1976) * ''The Weeping Sky'' (Cassell Australia, 1977) * ''[[Displaced Person (novel)|Displaced Person]]'' (Hyland House, Australia1979) (as ''Misplaced Persons'' (Harper & Row, May 1979)) (minor revisions, Penguin (1981)) * ''The Web of Time'' (Cassell Australia, 1980) novelisation of radio play ''Journey Into Time'' * ''Waiting for the End of the World'' (Hyland House, Australia 1983) * ''Heartsease'' (HarperCollins, Australia 1997)
===Radio plays=== * ''Journey Into Time'' (Serial: [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], {{circa|1978}}) * ''The Legend of New Earth'' (Serial: Australian Broadcasting Commission, {{circa|1979}}) * ''The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' (adaptation of "[[The Man Who Could Work Miracles (short story)|The Man Who Could Work Miracles]]" by [[H. G. Wells]], Australian Broadcasting Commission, {{circa|1980}})
===Selected short stories=== * ''"[[Fallen Spaceman]]"'' in ''If'' magazine, May/June 1971 * ''"[[Dancing Gerontius]]"'' in the collection: ''The Second Pacific Book of Science Fiction'', edited by [[John Baxter (author)|John Baxter]] (Angus and Robertson, 1971) * ''"Soul Survivors"'' in the collection: ''[[New Writings in SF 17]]'', edited by [[John Carnell]] (Dobson, 1970)
===Edited=== * ''Beyond Tomorrow : an anthology of modern science fiction'' (Wren, 1975) * ''The Altered I : an encounter with science fiction / by Ursula K. Le Guin and others'' (Norstrilia Press, 1976) * ''Rooms of Paradise'' (Quartet Books, 1978)
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * Oxford Companion to Australian Literature Oxford 1985 pp 316–317 613 * The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Orbit 1993 pp 541–542 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070913043832/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~asff/harding.htm A. Bertram Chandler Award 2006 presented to Lee Harding, by Bruce Gillespie] Australian Science Fiction Foundation, Chandler Award Winners (Retrieved 17 September 2007)
==External links== *{{isfdb name|id=Lee_Harding|name=Lee Harding}} *[http://www.philsp.com/data/images/i/if_197106.jpg ''Worlds of if'' magazine June 1971]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Lee}} [[Category:1937 births]] [[Category:2023 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Australian male writers]] [[Category:20th-century Australian novelists]] [[Category:20th-century Australian short story writers]] [[Category:Australian male novelists]] [[Category:Australian male short story writers]] [[Category:Australian photographers]] [[Category:Australian science fiction writers]] [[Category:Australian writers of young adult literature]] [[Category:People from Colac, Victoria]] [[Category:Writers from Victoria (state)]]