The writer Bob Ellis has been diagnosed with aggressive liver cancer and says he may have just weeks to live.
A prolific author, journalist and screenwriter, Ellis has written speeches for Labor leaders including Bob Carr, Paul Keating and Kim Beazley, but in recent years singled out Julia Gillard for harsh criticism in his election diary Suddenly, Last Winter.
“The news is very bad and I may have months to live but it is more like weeks,” Ellis, 73, posted on his personal blog Table Talk on Sunday.
The editor of Independent Australia, Dave Donovan, who publishes Ellis’s regular commentary, confirmed the news was bleak on Twitter on Monday.
Ellis’s friend Wendy Harmer told Guardian Australia she admired him greatly as a writer.
“Bob’s long and passionate love affair with the English language is an inspiration to anyone who loves words,” Harmer said.
“Every line he writes crackles with energy. Every essay and column is stuffed full of ideas, erudition and an exhortation to action. And, after all these years honing his fine craftsmanship, his words still have the same raw power you’d find from a speaker standing under a tree in the Domain. As a performer, the finest compliment I can offer is that Bob’s words are best said aloud.”
Journalist Mike Carlton was a fellow cadet with Ellis in the ABC newsroom in Sydney in the 1960s.
ALSO …
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/bob-ellis-reveals-he-has-weeks-to-live-20150720-gifq33
When Bob Ellis vowed to unseat Bronwyn Bishop …
www.smh.com.au/nsw/when-bob-ellis-vowed-to-unseat-bronwyn-bishop-20150720-gig14b.html
