Michelle de Kretser: From Methodist College to Global Platforms
Source:Thuppahis
Michelle de Kretser = born 11 November 1957 = an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14.[1] De Kretser was educated at Methodist College, Colombo and in Methodist College, Colombo,[2] and in Melbourne and Paris.
She worked as an editor for travel guides company Lonely Planet, and while on a sabbatical in 1999, wrote and published her first novel, The Rose Grower. Her second novel, published in 2003, The Hamilton Case was winner of the Tasmania Pacific Prize, the Encore Award (UK) and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Southeast Asia and Pacific). Her third novel, The Lost Dog, was published in 2007. It was one of 13 books on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for fiction. From 1989 to 1992 she was a founding editor of the Australian Women’s Book Review. Her fourth novel, Questions of Travel, won several awards, including the 2013 Miles Franklin Award, the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal), and the 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for fiction. It was also shortlisted for the 2014 Dublin Impac Literary Award. Her 2017 novel, The Life to Come, was shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize.[3]
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Awards
- 2004 – Encore Prize for The Hamilton Case
- 2004 – Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, South-East Asia and the Pacific for The Hamilton Case
- 2005 – Tasmania Pacific Award for The Hamilton Case
- 2007 – Liberatur Award for The Hamilton Case
- 2008 – New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards – Christina Stead Prize for fiction and Book of the Year for The Lost Dog
- 2008 – ALS Gold Medal for The Lost Dog
- 2013 – Miles Franklin Award for Questions of Travel
- 2013 – ALS Gold Medal for Questions of Travel
- 2013 – Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Fiction Prize for Questions of Travel
- 2013 – Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards Fiction Prize and Premier’s Prize for Questions of Travel
- 2014 – New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards – Christina Stead Prize for fiction and Book of the Year for Questions of Travel
- 2018 – Miles Franklin Award for The Life to Come
Works
- The Rose Grower (1999)
- The Hamilton Case (2003)
- The Lost Dog (2007)
- Questions of Travel (2012)
- Springtime (2014)
- The Life to Come (2017)
Abstract: Michelle De Kretser was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and moved to Australia in 1972. From 1989 to 1992 she was a founding editor of the Australian Women’s Book Review. She is the author of several novels, including The Rose Grower (1999), The Hamilton Case (2003 – winner of the Tasmania Pacific Prize, the Encore Award [UK] and the Commonwealth Writers Prize [Southeast Asia and Pacific]) and The Lost Dog (2007). Her most recent novel, Questions of Travel, won the 2013 Miles Franklin Award, the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and the 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for fiction. In this conversation, which took place by telephone call from Melbourne to Sydney in August 2015, De Kretser discusses Questions of Travel in relation to travel and tourism, the Sri Lankan diaspora, and postcolonial and neocolonial politics.
