Limmud-Oz Sydney 2011 | The Shalom Institute

Ros Collins

Ros Collins, librarian and former Director of Makor Jewish Community Library in Melbourne. She is the widow and literary executor of Alan Collins and has been involved in the publication and promotion of his works. Ros grew up in war-time London where she met and married Alan. She emigrated to Australia as a ‘ten-pound Pom’ and after the birth of three sons, she returned to professional work as a librarian in the TAFE sector and to university studies. Ros currently acts as a library consultant and hopes to see Alan’s work one day on the screen.

ALAN COLLINS (1928–2008) was an Australian-Jewish writer. He wrote a fiction trilogy, A Promised Land?, a memoir, Alva’s Boy, and short stories, many represented in the collection A Thousand Nights at the Ritz. In the 1950s he was editor of the Sydney Jewish News and he contributed articles and columns to newspapers and magazines throughout his life. Alan is also anthologized in most collections of Australian-Jewish literature. His family emigrated from London in the 1830s and he grew up in the Sydney of the 1930s and 40s. His fascination with the relationship between the Anglo-Jewish community and the ‘reffos’ is reflected in his work. He is survived by his wife, Ros, who presents his distinctively Australian perspective.