Richard Flanagan

Richard Flanagan ( born 1961 in Longford, Tasmania ) is one of the most renowned Tasmanian writer.

Life

Richard Flanagan is the fifth of six children of an Irish- Catholic family in 1849 settled in Tasmania. He was educated at state schools until he left school at the age of 16, and worked in the Australian bush. However, Flanagan took his training again, went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and graduated here in 1991 from his history studies.

Flanagan is married, has three children and currently lives in Hobart, Tasmania.

He has released four novels. All were nominated for the Miles Franklin Award. The book Gould 's Book of Fish won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2002.

Works

Novels

  • Death of a River Guide, 1994 ( Eng.: Death on the river, Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-8270-0478-0 )
  • The Sound of One Hand Clapping, 1997 ( Eng.: At the beginning of Memory, 1998)
  • Gould 's Book of Fish, 2001 ( Eng.: Gould's Book of Fish, Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8270-0477-2 )
  • The Unknown Terrorist, 2006
  • Wanting, 2008 ( Eng.: Mathinna, Atrium Verlag, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-85535-135-0 )

Non-fiction

  • A Terrible Beauty: History of the Gordon River Country (1985 )
  • The Rest of the World is Watching (1990 ), as co-editor

Movies

Flanagan wrote the screenplay and directed The Sound of one Hand Clapping, based on his novel. The film premiered at the 1998 Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Bear for Best Film.

Awards and prizes

  • First Fiction Award: Death of a River Guide
  • Australian Booksellers Book of the Year Award: The Sound of One Hand Clapping
  • Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction: The Sound of One Hand Clapping
  • 1996 National Fiction Award: Death of a River Guide
  • 2002 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Gould 's Book of Fish
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