Tim Winton

Tim Winton
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Australian
Genre	Literature, Children's Literature, Non-Fiction, Short Story

Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960), known as Tim Winton, is an acclaimed Australian novelist and short story writer.

Life

Tim Winton was born in Perth, Western Australia, but moved when young to the small country town of Albany.

Winton has been named a Living Treasure by the National Trust, and awarded the Centenary Medal for service to literature and the community. He is patron of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers sponsored by the City of Subiaco, Western Australia.

He has lived in Italy, France, Ireland and Greece and currently lives in Western Australia with his wife and three children.

Literary career

While attending Curtin University of Technology, Winton wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer. It went on to win The Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 1981, and launched his writing career. In fact, he wrote "the best part of three books while at university". His second book, Shallows, won the Miles Franklin Award in 1984. However, it wasn't until Cloudstreet was published in 1991 that his career, and economic future, was firmly established.

In 1995 Winton’s novel, The Riders, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, as was his 2002 book, Dirt Music. Both are currently being adapted for film. He has won many other prizes, including the Miles Franklin Award three times: for Shallows (1984), Cloudstreet (1992) and Dirt Music (2002). Cloudstreet is arguably his best-known work, regularly appearing in lists of Australia’s best-loved novels. His latest novel, released in 2008, is called Breath.

He is now one of Australia's most esteemed novelists, writing both for adults and children, and all his books are still in print. His work is published in eighteen different languages and has been successfully adapted for stage, screen and radio. On the publication of his novel, Dirt Music, he collaborated with broadcaster, Lucky Oceans, to produce a compilation CD, Dirt Music – Music for a Novel.

Style and themes

Winton draws his prime inspiration from landscape and place, mostly coastal Western Australia. He has said "The place comes first. If the place isn't interesting to me then I can't feel it. I can't feel any people in it. I can't feel what the people are on about or likely to get up to". His themes often centre on an issue that is well described by the character Gail in The Turning. She says that "every vivid experience comes from your adolescence".

Winton re-uses place and, occasionally, characters from one book to another. Queenie Cookson, for example, is a character in Breath who also appears in Shallows and in one of the Lockie Leonard books.

Environmental advocacy

Winton is actively involved in the Australian environmental movement. He is the patron of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and is passionately involved in many of their campaigns, notably their work in raising awareness about sustainable seafood consumption. He is also patron of the Stop the Toad Foundation (Inc). Winton has recently contributed to the whaling debate with an article on the Last Whale website, and he is a prominent supporter of the Save Moreton Bay organization, the Environment Defender’s Office and Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

In 2003, he was awarded the inaugural Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Medal in recognition for his work in the campaign to save the Ningaloo Reef.

Winton keeps away from the public eye, except when a book comes out, unless it is to support an environmental issue. He told reviewer Jason Steger that "Occasionally they wheel me out for green advocacy stuff but that's the only kind of stuff I put my head up for".

Bibliography

Novels

• An Open Swimmer (1982)
• Shallows (1984)
• That Eye, The Sky (1986)
• In the Winter Dark (1988)
• Cloudstreet (1991)
• The Riders (1994)
• Blueback (1997)
• Dirt Music (2001)
• Breath (2008). Reviewed in the TLS, by Rónán McDonald

Short Story Collections

• Scission (1985)
• Minimum Of Two (1987)
• The Turning (2005)

Recent Short Stories and Essays

Tim Winton’s short stories have been published in numerous publications and have been widely anthologised.

• “Big World”, Journeys: Modern Australian Short Stories, Barry Oakley (ed), Five Mile Press, 2007
• “Abbreviation”/”Ten viet tat”, Truyen ngan Uc/Australian Short Stories, Rose Moxham (ed), Trinh Lu (translator), Hoi Nhaa Van, 2005
• “Cockleshell”, Harvard Review, No. 27, Christina Thompson (ed), 2004
• "Landing", A Place on Earth: An Anthology of Nature Writing from Australia and North America, Mark Tredinnick (ed), University of Nebraska Press and University of New South Wales Press, 2003
• “How the Reef was Won”, The Bulletin, vol. 121 no. 6384, 5 August, 2003
• “Aquifer”, The Beacon Best of 2001, Junot Diaz (ed), Beacon Press, 2001

Children's Books

• Jesse (1988)
• Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo (1990)
• The Bugalugs Bum Thief (1991)
• Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster (1993)
• Lockie Leonard, Legend (1997)
• The Deep (1998) - illustrated by Karen Louise

Non-Fiction

• Land's Edge (1993) - with Trish Ainslie and Roger Garwood
• Local Colour: Travels in the Other Australia (1994), republished in the U.S. as Australian Colors: Images of the Outback (1998) - photography and text by Bill Bachman, additional text by Tim Winton
• Down to Earth (1999) - text by Tim Winton and photographs by Richard Woldendorp

    Blueback

Dramatisations

• That Eye The Sky adapted by Justin Monjo and Richard Roxburgh – stage
• Cloudstreet adapted by David Britton and Paige Gibbs – ABC radio
• Cloudstreet adapted by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo. First performed by Black Swan Theatre Company. Toured internationally with Belvoir Street Theatre
• Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo adapted by Paige Gibbs. First performed by the Perth Theatre Company
• Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster adapted by Garry Fry. First performed by Theatre South, Wollongong
• Bugalugs Bum Thief adapted by Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
• Bugalugs Bum Thief adapted by Monkey Baa Theatre Company – live theatre
• The Deep adapted by [http://www.sppt.asn.au/ Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
• Blueback adapted by Peta Murray for Terrapin Puppet Theatre and Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
• The Turning adapted by Bill McCluskey performed by the Perth Theatre Company for the 2008 Perth International Writer’s Festival (PIAF)

Adaptations

• A film based on That Eye the Sky, directed by John Ruane, was released in 1994
• A film based on In The Winter Dark was released in 1998
• A television series based on the Lockie Leonard books screened in 2007.
• There are currently plans to produce a TV miniseries based on Cloudstreet
• A film adaptation of The Riders is in development
• A film adaptation of Dirt Music is in development

Critical Works About Tim Winton

• Mind the Country: Tim Winton’s fiction, Salhia Ben-Messahel, University of Western Australia Press, 2006
• Tim Winton: the writer and his work, Michael McGirr, Macmillan Education, 1999
• Tim Winton: a celebration, Hilary McPhee (ed), National Library of Australia, (1999)
• Reading Tim Winton, Richard Rossiter and Lyn Jacobs (eds), Angus & Robertson, (1993)

Awards & Nominations

• 3 time Miles Franklin Award winner, 1984, 1992, 2002

• 2 time Booker Prize nominee

• Winton was included in the Bulletin's "100 Most Influential Australians" list in 2006

Full List of Awards and Nominations:

• 1981 Australian Vogel National Literary Award An Open Swimmer

• 1984 Miles Franklin Award, Shallows

• 1985 Western Australian Council Literary Award, Scission

• 1990 Western Australian Premier's Award for Children's Fiction, Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo

• 1991 Miles Franklin Award, Cloudstreet

• 1991 NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, Cloudstreet

• 1991 West Australian Fiction Award, Cloudstreet

• 1992 Deo Gloria Award, Cloudstreet

• 1993 American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults Award, Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo

• 1993 Wilderness Society Environment Award, Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster

• 1995 Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) The Riders

• 1995 Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book), The Riders

• 1998 Bolinda Audio Book Awards, Blueback

• 1998 Family Award for Children's Literature, Lockie Leonard, Legend

• 1998 Wilderness Society Environment Award, Blueback

• 1999 WAYRBA Hoffman Award for Young Readers, Blueback

• 2001 Western Australian Premier's Book Award Premier's Prize, Dirt Music

• 2001 Good Reading Award, 2001, Dirt Music

• 2002 Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award, Dirt Music

• 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist), Dirt Music

• 2002 Miles Franklin Award, Dirt Music

• 2002 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, Dirt Music

• 2002 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, Fiction, 2002 - shortlist, Dirt Music

• 2003 Australian Society of Authors Medal

• 2004 Colin Roderick Award, 2004 - joint winner, The Turning

• 2005 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Best Fiction Book, The Turning

• 2005 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, The Turning

• 2005 Inaugural Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award - shortlisted, The Turning

• 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize, South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book - commended, The Turning