After five decades of chronicling the blunders, mishaps and messes that he and his fellow Australians got themselves into, David Williamson has penned his long-awaited memoir, Home Truths.

It reveals the story of the man behind the work: how a childhood defined by marital discord sparked a lifelong fascination with the power of drama to explore emotional conflict, how a mechanical engineering student became our most successful playwright, the anxiety that plagued him as he crafted his plays, the joy of connecting with an audience and the enduring sting of the critics, and the great love story that defined his personal life.

Williamson also writes about the plethora of odd, interesting, caustic and brilliant people who have intersected with his life and work: from a young Jacki Weaver and Chris Haywood in the first Sydney production of The Removalists in 1971 to Nicole Kidman on the brink of stardom in the 1988 feature film of Emerald City and lively dinners with political powerhouse Paul Keating.