Tim Winton
Tim Winton is a prominent Australian author born in 1960 in Karrinyup, Western Australia. He is celebrated for his extensive body of work, which includes novels, short stories, and children's literature. Winton's literary career began with his debut novel, "An Open Swimmer," which won the Australian Vogel Literary Award and established him as a full-time writer. His notable works include "Cloudstreet," which explores the intertwined lives of two families in post-World War II Perth, and "Dirt Music," which delves into themes of dysfunction and redemption within a coastal community. Winton has received multiple Miles Franklin Awards and was shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize for his novels "The Riders" and "Dirt Music." In addition to his fiction, he has ventured into playwriting and has published works that address ecological issues. Winton's storytelling is often characterized by its rich Australian setting and deep exploration of human relationships. In 2023, he was honored as an Officer of the Order of Australia, highlighting his contribution to literature and culture.
Tim Winton
Australian adult and young-adult novelist, short-fiction writer, and nonfiction writer.
- Born: August 4, 1960
- Place of Birth: Karrinyup, Western Australia, Australia
Biography
Tim Winton was born in Karrinyup, Western Australia, Australia, in 1960. After high school, he attended a creative writing course at Curtin University in Perth. While there, he began his first novel, An Open Swimmer (1982), which won the Australian Vogel Literary Award. This success convinced Winton to become a full-time writer, an unusual decision for someone from Western Australia. Winton probably has become Western Australia’s best-known novelist, with numerous fiction books for adults and children and numerous awards to his credit.
His second novel, Shallows (1984), won the Miles Franklin Award, the first of four of his books to receive this prize as of 2017. Two volumes of short stories followed, Scission, and Other Stories (1985) and Minimum of Two (1987). The latter consists of fourteen stories exploring friendship, early marriage, and family relationships in a Western Australian setting. The two volumes were combined with additional short stories and issued as Blood and Water: Stories in 1993. His third novel, That Eye, the Sky (1986), is narrated by a ten-year-old boy, though it is not strictly a young-adult novel. It is about the coming-of-age of Morton “Ort” Flack and his dysfunctional family, beginning with his father’s paralysis after a car wreck. Ort has to make sense of the changes in his life emanating from this accident and is helped by a so-called preacher who turns out to be both a former hippie, like his parents, and a minor criminal. While Winton has lived most of his life in Australia, he lived in Paris for a brief period in 1987 for a writing fellowship.
Winton began publishing young-adults novels in the late 1980s. His first young-adult novel, Jesse (1988), was followed by the very successful Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo (1990). Lockie and his family have just moved from the city to a small town; he does not get on in school or with other children, but he finds consolation in surfing and Vicki Streeton. He eventually discovers popularity, love, sex, and supportive parents. The book was criticized for using a densely colloquial Australian slang that is at times almost incomprehensible. Winton rectified this problem in Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster (1993), in which the teenage repartee of his dialogue gained him special praise. This book deals with both teenage pop culture and the ecological issues with which Winton was becoming increasingly concerned. It describes how Lockie and his pal, Egg, manage to block up the effluent from a factory. The Deep (2000), a children’s novel, is about Alice’s need to gain confidence so she can swim out of her depth. Her fascination for dolphins enables her to attain her goal. Blueback: A Contemporary Fable (1997) is a more ecologically orientated young-adult novel, relating how Abel and his mother protect their bay from developers and rapacious fishermen.
Among Winton’s adult novels, Cloudstreet (1992) is set in Perth and contrasts two struggling families who share the same house over a twenty-year period just after World War II. The members of the Pickles family are gamblers, believe in inherent bad luck, and have to rent half of their house to the Lambs, who are religious and conscientious, although they never seem to prosper. Tragedy and hilarity emerge from the book’s rapid-fire dialogue. The novel received a number of prizes, including another Miles Franklin Award. The Riders (1994) was Winton’s first novel to be short-listed for the Booker Prize. Although it failed to earn this prize, it received several other awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best novel published in South East Asia or the South Pacific. The novel centers around working-class Scully and his young daughter Billie as they tour Europe seeking his well-born wife. His life effectively falls to pieces but Billie works to redeem him, although she is struck dumb from shock. The novel Dirt Music (2001) was also short-listed for the Booker Prize. Like some of his other novels, it is set in a shore community where dysfunctional families manage to survive and redeem themselves. The novel won Winton his third Miles Franklin Award. A number of Winton’s stories have been adapted for the stage, television, and motion pictures. He also has written travel books and won awards for his ecological concerns.
In 2008, he published his novel Breath, about two teenage boys in Western Australia who are led to increasingly dangerous and reckless behavior by their surfing mentor, Sando. Breath earned Winton his fourth Miles Franklin Award. Beginning in 2011, he added playwright to his résumé with the stage premiere of his play Rising Water. After writing a second play, Signs of Life, the following year, he published another acclaimed novel, titled Eyrie, and premiered a third play, Shrine, in 2013. In Eyrie, a former environmentalist mired in scandal, Tom Keely, has nearly hit rock bottom, when an old love and her child resurface in desperate need of help. His long and celebrated career has made him one of Australia's most beloved contemporary writers.
Winton published his next novel, The Shepherd's Hut, in 2018. In 2023, Winton was named an Officer of the Order of Australia. The following year, Winton published the novel Juice (2024).
Author Works
Long Fiction:
An Open Swimmer, 1982
Shallows, 1984
That Eye, the Sky, 1986
In the Winter Dark, 1988
Cloudstreet, 1992
The Riders, 1994
Dirt Music, 2001
Breath, 2008
Eyrie, 2013
The Shepherd's Hut, 2018
Juice, 2024
Nonfiction:
Land's End, 1993
Local Colour: Travels in the Other Australia, 1994 (with Bill Bachman)
Down to Earth: Australian Landscapes, 2000 (with Richard Woldendorp)
Australian Colors, 2001 (with Bill Bachman)
Island Home: A Landscape Memoir, 2015
The Boy behind the Curtain, 2016
Short Fiction:
Scission, and Other Stories, 1985
Minimum of Two, 1987
Blood and Water, 1993
The Turning, 2004
Children's/Young Adult Fiction:
Jesse, 1988
The Bugalugs Bum Thief, 1991
Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo, 1991
Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster, 1993
Blueback: A Contemporary Fable, 1997
Lockie Leonard, Legend, 1997
The Deep, 2000 (illustrated by Karen Louise)
Drama:
Rising Water, pr. 2011
Signs of Life, pr. 2012
Shrine, pr. 2013
Bibliography
Cain, Sian. "Tim Winton: 'I Lived in the Worst Possible Space for Seven Years. It Knocks Some Paint Off You, I Can Tell You." The Guardian, 2 Oct. 2024, www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/03/tim-winton-juice-book-interview#:~:text=Last%20year%20he%20was%20made,literature%20and%20to%20environmental%20advocacy%E2%80%9D.&text=But%20even%20he%20didn't,a%20novel%20about%20climate%20change. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.
Romei, Stephen. "Tim Winton Laid Bare." The Australian, 24–25 Sept. 2016, www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/holding-fire/news-story/72697cd48030752b9ae8a98fd4d6b695. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.
Smart, Simon. "The Sacred Fragility of Life: Tim Winton, Faith and Fundamentalism." ABC, 7 Feb. 2017, www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/02/07/4615597.htm. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.
"Tim Winton." British Council: Literature. British Council, 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2016. .
Winton, Tim. "Tim Winton: 'My Only Peers Were in the Library.'" Interview by Alex Clark. Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 1 June 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
Winton, Tim. "Waiting for the New Wave." Interview by Aida Edemariam. Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 27 June 2008. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.