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{{Short description|Australian writer}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2013}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2024}}
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'''Debra Oswald ''' (born 30 August 1959) is an Australian writer for film, television, stage, radio and [[children's fiction]]. In 2008 her ''Stories in the Dark'' won Best Play in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She is creator and head writer of the Channel 10 drama series ''[[Offspring (TV series)|Offspring]]'', for which she won the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Award and the 2014 AACTA Award for best TV screenplay. Her novel ''Useful'' was published by Penguin in January 2015.
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}


{{Infobox writer
⚫
She began writing as a teenager. Her first play was workshopped at the 1977 [[Australian National Playwrights Conference]] when she was 17, and then broadcast on ABC Radio. She studied at the [[Australian National University]] and at the [[Australian Film Television and Radio School]] and has since made her living as a writer for film, television, stage and radio as well as publishing a number of novels for children. She lives in Sydney with the author and radio personality [[Richard Glover(radio presenter)|Richard Glover]]; they have two sons.
| name = Debra Oswald
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1959
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer for children, film and television
| language = English
| nationality = Australian
| ethnicity =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater =
| notableworks = Useful
| awards = 2015 [[FAW Christina Stead Award]]
| years_active = 1983-
}}
'''Debra Oswald''' (born 1959) is an Australian writer for film, television, stage, radio and [[children's fiction]].<ref name="Austlit">{{cite web|title= Austlit — Debra Oswald |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A27378|access-date= 24 April 2024}}</ref>


⚫
In 2008 her ''Stories in the Dark'' won Best Play in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She created and was head writer of the Channel 10 drama series ''[[Offspring (TV series)|Offspring]]'', now on Netflix, for which she won the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Award and the 2014 AACTA Award for best TV screenplay. Her novel ''Useful'' was released in 2015, followed by her novel ''The Whole Bright Year'' in 2018, both published by Penguin Random House. Her novel ''The Family Doctor'' was published by Allen and Unwin in March 2021. Oswald's one-woman stage show, ''Is There Something Wrong With That Lady'', premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre in April 2021.
⚫
Her best-known play, ''Dags'', has had many productions around Australia and has been published and performed in [[UK|Britain]] and the United States. Debra's other plays include ''Going Under'', produced by Adelaide's Troupe Theatre in 1983, and ''Lumps'', which premiered at the ''Q Theatre'' in 1993. In 1996, a co-production of Debra's play ''[[Gary's House]]'' by Playbox and the Q Theatre played in [[Melbourne]], [[Penrith, New South Wales|Penrith]] and the Gold Coast. There have also been productions in [[Adelaide]], [[Hobart]], Newcastle, [[Canberra]] and Hjoerring, Denmark. ''[[Gary's House]]'' was on the New South Wales Year 12 drama syllabus. In 2000, her play ''[[Sweet Road]]'' was presented in Melbourne and Adelaide in a Playbox/STC of SA co production, and in Sydney by the Ensemble Theatre. ''[[Sweet Road]]'', ''[[Gary's House]]'' and ''[[The Peach Season]]'' were all short-listed for the [[New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards]].


==Career==
⚫
''[[Mr Bailey's Minder]]'' and ''[[The Peach Season]]'' both premiered at [[Griffin Theatre Company]]. ''[[Mr Bailey's Minder]]'' toured nationally in 2006 and premiered in the United States in 2008 at [[The Walnut Street Theatre]] in Philadelphia. ''[[Gary's House]]'' was staged in Japanese in Tokyo by Rakutendan Theatre in 2008.
⚫
Oswald began writing as a teenager. Her first play was workshopped at the 1977 [[Australian National Playwrights Conference]] when she was 17, and then broadcast on ABC Radio. She studied at the [[Australian National University]] and at the [[Australian Film Television and Radio School]] and has since made her living as a writer for film, television, stage and radio as well as publishing a number of novels for children. She lives in Sydney with the author and radio personality [[Richard Glover (radio presenter)|Richard Glover]]; they have two sons.


⚫
Her play, ''Dags'', has had many productions around Australia and has been published and performed in [[UK|Britain]] and the United States. Debra's other plays include ''Going Under'', produced by Adelaide's Troupe Theatre in 1983, and ''Lumps'', which premiered at the ''Q Theatre'' in 1993. In 1996, a co-production of Debra's play ''[[Gary's House]]'' by Playbox and the Q Theatre played in [[Melbourne]], [[Penrith, New South Wales|Penrith]] and the Gold Coast. There have also been productions in [[Adelaide]], [[Hobart]], Newcastle, [[Canberra]] and Hjoerring, Denmark. ''[[Gary's House]]'' was on the New South Wales Year 12 drama syllabus. In 2000, her play ''[[Sweet Road]]'' was presented in Melbourne and Adelaide in a Playbox/STC of SA co production, and in Sydney by the Ensemble Theatre. ''[[Sweet Road]]'', ''[[Gary's House]]'' and ''[[The Peach Season]]'' were all short-listed for the [[New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards]].
⚫
Her writing for television includes the mini series ''Palace of Dreams'' (1985) as well as ''Dancing Daze'' (1986), ''[[Police Rescue]]'' (1991), ''[[Bananas in Pyjamas]]'' (1992), ''Wildside'' (1997), ''Swinging'' (1997), ''[[Magic Mountain (TV series)|Magic Mountain]]'' (1997), ''[[The Secret Life of Us]]'' (2001), and ''Outriders'' (2001). Her ''Police Rescue'' scripts have been nominated for AFI, AWGIE and State Library awards. Her telemovie ''Offspring'' was filmed in late 2009, produced by Southern Star/John Edwards and Network Ten; a series based on ''Offspring'' was broadcast in 2010. Seven series of ''Offspring'' were broadcast between 2010 and 2017.


⚫
''[[Mr Bailey's Minder]]'' and ''[[The Peach Season]]'' both premiered at [[Griffin Theatre Company]]. ''[[Mr Bailey's Minder]]'' toured nationally in 2006 and premiered in the United States in 2008 at the [[Walnut Street Theatre]] in [[Philadelphia]]. ''[[Gary's House]]'' was staged in Japanese in Tokyo by Rakutendan Theatre in 2008.
⚫
Debra is also the author of the children's novels ''Me and Barry Terrific'' (1987) and ''The Return of the Baked Bean'' (1990) and ''The Fifth Quest'' (2002). She has also written three Aussie Bites – ''Nathan and the Ice Rockets'' (1998), ''Frank and the Emergency Joke'' (2000), and "Frank and the Secret Club". ''The Redback Leftovers'' (2000) is an entertaining story for upper primary students about the debut season of the worst soccer team ever. It has been republished in 2007. Her two most recent novels for young people are ''Getting Air'' (2007), a story about skateboarding, and''Blue Noise'' (2009), a book about teenagers who establish a blues band.


⚫
Her writing for television includes the mini series ''Palace of Dreams'' (1985) as well as ''Dancing Daze'' (1986), ''[[Police Rescue]]'' (1991), ''[[Bananas in Pyjamas]]'' (1992), ''Wildside'' (1997), ''Swinging'' (1997), ''[[Magic Mountain (TV series)|Magic Mountain]]'' (1997), ''[[The Secret Life of Us]]'' (2001), and ''Outriders'' (2001). Her ''Police Rescue'' scripts have been nominated for AFI, AWGIE and State Library awards. Her series ''Offspring'', produced by Southern Star/John Edwards and Network Ten, was broadcast from 2010. Seven series of ''Offspring'' were broadcast up to 2017, with Oswald involved in the first five series.
⚫
She has written four plays for teenage audiences, the most recent of which is ''House on Fire'', performed by the Australian Theatre for Young People in June 2010. She's written two previous plays for the Australian Theatre for Young People – ''Skate'', which toured to the Belfast Festival, and ''Stories in the Dark'' .


⚫
Debra is also the author of the children's novels ''Me and Barry Terrific'' (1987) and ''The Return of the Baked Bean'' (1990) and ''The Fifth Quest'' (2002). She has also written three Aussie Bites – ''Nathan and the Ice Rockets'' (1998), ''Frank and the Emergency Joke'' (2000), and "Frank and the Secret Club". Her other novels for young people are ''The Redback Leftovers'' (Penguin 2000, republished 2007), ''Getting Air'' (2007, Random House), and ''Blue Noise'' (2009), a book about teenagers who establish a blues band.
⚫
Of ''Stories in the Dark'', her winner in the NSW Literary Awards, the judges said: "By engaging us with dark tales, paradoxically told as a distraction in a time of war, Oswald probes the role of imagination in survival, with insight and a sureness of craft.... Debra Oswald's clear-eyed, compassionate play shows us the role of story in making sense, and thus its place in the persistence of hope."<ref name=premier>{{Cite journal|title=2008 Shortlists and Judges comments |publisher=NSW Premier's Literary Awards |url=http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/Portals/0/Lit%20and%20History%20Awards/2008%20NSW%20Prem%20Lit%20Awards%20Shortlist%20pdf.pdf |format=pdf |accessdate=2008-12-05 |postscript= |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080722002833/http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/Portals/0/Lit%20and%20History%20Awards/2008%20NSW%20Prem%20Lit%20Awards%20Shortlist%20pdf.pdf |archivedate=22 July 2008 |df=dmy }}</ref>

⚫
She has written four plays for teenage audiences, the most recent of which is ''House on Fire'', performed by the Australian Theatre for Young People in June 2010. She has written two previous plays for the Australian Theatre for Young People – ''Skate'', which toured to the Belfast Festival, and ''Stories in the Dark'' .

⚫
Of ''Stories in the Dark'', her winner in the NSW Literary Awards, the judges said: "By engaging us with dark tales, paradoxically told as a distraction in a time of war, Oswald probes the role of imagination in survival, with insight and a sureness of craft.... Debra Oswald's clear-eyed, compassionate play shows us the role of story in making sense, and thus its place in the persistence of hope."<ref name=..>{{cite web|title="2008 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Shortlists" |publisher=2008 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards|url=http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/Portals/0/Lit%20and%20History%20Awards/2008%20NSW%20Prem%20Lit%20Awards%20Shortlist%20pdf.pdf|access-date= 24 April 2024}}</ref>

In 2021 Oswald debuted on stage, performing her one-woman show ''Is There Something Wrong With That Lady?'' at the Griffin Theatre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/i-m-terrified-offspring-creator-contemplates-next-project-20190824-p52kbn.html|title='I'm terrified': Offspring creator contemplates next project|last=Morris|first=Linda|date=2019-08-25|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2019-08-27}}</ref>


==Awards==
==Awards==
* [[AACTA Awards]], Best TV Screenplay, 2014: winner for ''[[Offspring]]'', series 4, episode 13
* [[AACTA Awards]], Best TV Screenplay, 2014: winner for ''[[Offspring (TV series)|Offspring]]'', series 4, episode 13
* [[New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards]], Script Award, 2011: winner for ''[[Offspring]]''
* [[New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards]], Script Award, 2011: winner for ''Offspring''
* [[New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards]], Play Award, 2008: winner for ''[[Stories in the Dark]]''
* [[New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards]], Play Award, 2008: winner for ''[[Stories in the Dark]]''
* [[Queensland Premier's Literary Awards]], Drama Script (Stage) Award, 2005: shortlisted for ''[[Mr Bailey's Minder]]''
* [[Queensland Premier's Literary Awards]], Drama Script (Stage) Award, 2005: shortlisted for ''[[Mr Bailey's Minder]]''
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===Plays===
===Plays===
* ''Dags'' (Currency Press, 1987)
* ''Dags'' (Currency Press, 1987
* ''The Two-way Mirror'' [manuscript]
* ''The Two-way Mirror'' [manuscript]
* ''Our Hopeful Youth: a radio play with music in three scenes'' [manuscript]
* ''Our Hopeful Youth: a radio play with music in three scenes'' [manuscript]
Line 43: Line 69:
* ''Useful'' (Penguin Books, 2015) {{ISBN|9780143573739}}
* ''Useful'' (Penguin Books, 2015) {{ISBN|9780143573739}}
* ''The Whole Bright Year'' (Viking, 2018), {{ISBN|9780143788256}}
* ''The Whole Bright Year'' (Viking, 2018), {{ISBN|9780143788256}}
*''The Family Doctor'' (Allen & Unwin, 2021), {{ISBN|9781760877781}}


===Children's Books===
===Children's books===
* '' Me and Barry Terrific'' (Oxford University Press, 1987)
* '' Me and Barry Terrific'' (Oxford University Press, 1987)
* ''The return of the Baked Bean'' (Puffin, 1991)
* ''The return of the Baked Bean'' (Puffin, 1991)
Line 55: Line 82:
* ''Blue Noise'' (Random House Australia, 2009)
* ''Blue Noise'' (Random House Australia, 2009)


===Television Series===
===Television series===
* ''[[Bananas in Pyjamas]]'' (1992)
* ''[[Bananas in Pyjamas]]'' (1992)
* ''Swinging'' (1997)
* ''Swinging'' (1997)
* ''[[Offspring (TV series)|Offspring]]'' (2010–2013)
* ''[[Offspring (TV series)|Offspring]]'' (2010–2013)


==Notes==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==


Article for the Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-patrick-had-to-die-and-why-ill-be-crying-too-20130813-2rufy.html
* Article for ''The Sydney Morning Herald'': http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-patrick-had-to-die-and-why-ill-be-crying-too-20130813-2rufy.html
⚫
* Interview with Richard Fidler on ABC Radio: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/06/06/3236566.htm

⚫
Interview with Richard Fidler on ABC Radio: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/06/06/3236566.htm

==References==
* Leser, David. The two of us: Debra Oswald & Richard Glover [[Sydney Morning Herald]] ''Good Weekend'' – 13 December 1997 p.&nbsp;12
* Leser, David. The two of us: Debra Oswald & Richard Glover [[Sydney Morning Herald]] ''Good Weekend'' – 13 December 1997 p.&nbsp;12


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[[Category:Australian television writers]]
[[Category:Australian television writers]]
[[Category:Australian screenwriters]]
[[Category:Australian screenwriters]]
[[Category:Women television writers]]
[[Category:Australian women television writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australian National University alumni]]
[[Category:Australian National University alumni]]
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[[Category:21st-century Australian novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Australian novelists]]
[[Category:Australian women novelists]]
[[Category:Australian women novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Australian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian women writers]]

Latest revision as of 01:52, 24 April 2024

Debra Oswald
Born1959
OccupationWriter for children, film and television
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAustralian
Years active1983-
Notable worksUseful
Notable awards2015 FAW Christina Stead Award

Debra Oswald (born 1959) is an Australian writer for film, television, stage, radio and children's fiction.[1]

In 2008 her Stories in the Dark won Best Play in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She created and was head writer of the Channel 10 drama series Offspring, now on Netflix, for which she won the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Award and the 2014 AACTA Award for best TV screenplay. Her novel Useful was released in 2015, followed by her novel The Whole Bright Year in 2018, both published by Penguin Random House. Her novel The Family Doctor was published by Allen and Unwin in March 2021. Oswald's one-woman stage show, Is There Something Wrong With That Lady, premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre in April 2021.

Career

[edit]

Oswald began writing as a teenager. Her first play was workshopped at the 1977 Australian National Playwrights Conference when she was 17, and then broadcast on ABC Radio. She studied at the Australian National University and at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and has since made her living as a writer for film, television, stage and radio as well as publishing a number of novels for children. She lives in Sydney with the author and radio personality Richard Glover; they have two sons.

Her play, Dags, has had many productions around Australia and has been published and performed in Britain and the United States. Debra's other plays include Going Under, produced by Adelaide's Troupe Theatre in 1983, and Lumps, which premiered at the Q Theatre in 1993. In 1996, a co-production of Debra's play Gary's House by Playbox and the Q Theatre played in Melbourne, Penrith and the Gold Coast. There have also been productions in Adelaide, Hobart, Newcastle, Canberra and Hjoerring, Denmark. Gary's House was on the New South Wales Year 12 drama syllabus. In 2000, her play Sweet Road was presented in Melbourne and Adelaide in a Playbox/STC of SA co production, and in Sydney by the Ensemble Theatre. Sweet Road, Gary's House and The Peach Season were all short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.

Mr Bailey's Minder and The Peach Season both premiered at Griffin Theatre Company. Mr Bailey's Minder toured nationally in 2006 and premiered in the United States in 2008 at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Gary's House was staged in Japanese in Tokyo by Rakutendan Theatre in 2008.

Her writing for television includes the mini series Palace of Dreams (1985) as well as Dancing Daze (1986), Police Rescue (1991), Bananas in Pyjamas (1992), Wildside (1997), Swinging (1997), Magic Mountain (1997), The Secret Life of Us (2001), and Outriders (2001). Her Police Rescue scripts have been nominated for AFI, AWGIE and State Library awards. Her series Offspring, produced by Southern Star/John Edwards and Network Ten, was broadcast from 2010. Seven series of Offspring were broadcast up to 2017, with Oswald involved in the first five series.

Debra is also the author of the children's novels Me and Barry Terrific (1987) and The Return of the Baked Bean (1990) and The Fifth Quest (2002). She has also written three Aussie Bites – Nathan and the Ice Rockets (1998), Frank and the Emergency Joke (2000), and "Frank and the Secret Club". Her other novels for young people are The Redback Leftovers (Penguin 2000, republished 2007), Getting Air (2007, Random House), and Blue Noise (2009), a book about teenagers who establish a blues band.

She has written four plays for teenage audiences, the most recent of which is House on Fire, performed by the Australian Theatre for Young People in June 2010. She has written two previous plays for the Australian Theatre for Young People – Skate, which toured to the Belfast Festival, and Stories in the Dark .

Of Stories in the Dark, her winner in the NSW Literary Awards, the judges said: "By engaging us with dark tales, paradoxically told as a distraction in a time of war, Oswald probes the role of imagination in survival, with insight and a sureness of craft.... Debra Oswald's clear-eyed, compassionate play shows us the role of story in making sense, and thus its place in the persistence of hope."[2]

In 2021 Oswald debuted on stage, performing her one-woman show Is There Something Wrong With That Lady? at the Griffin Theatre.[3]

Awards

[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]

Plays

[edit]
  • Dags (Currency Press, 1987
  • The Two-way Mirror [manuscript]
  • Our Hopeful Youth: a radio play with music in three scenes [manuscript]
  • Lumps (1993)
  • Gary's House (Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre, 1996)
  • Sweet Road (Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre, 2000)
  • Skate (Currency Press, 2004)
  • Mr Bailey's Minder (Currency Press, 2005)
  • The Peach Season (Currency Press, 2007)
  • Stories in the Dark (Currency Press, 2008)
  • House on Fire (2010)

Novels

[edit]
  • Useful (Penguin Books, 2015) ISBN 9780143573739
  • The Whole Bright Year (Viking, 2018), ISBN 9780143788256
  • The Family Doctor (Allen & Unwin, 2021), ISBN 9781760877781

Children's books

[edit]
  • Me and Barry Terrific (Oxford University Press, 1987)
  • The return of the Baked Bean (Puffin, 1991)
  • Nathan and the ice rockets (Puffin Books, 1998) with Matthew Martin
  • The Redback Leftovers (Puffin, 2000)
  • Frank and the emergency joke (Puffin, 2000) with Stephen Axelsen
  • Frank and the secret club (Puffin Books, 2005) with Matthew Martin
  • The fifth quest (Puffin, 2002)
  • Getting air (Random House Australia, 2007)
  • Blue Noise (Random House Australia, 2009)

Television series

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Austlit — Debra Oswald". Austlit. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  2. ^ ""2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Shortlists"" (PDF). 2008 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  3. ^ Morris, Linda (25 August 2019). "'I'm terrified': Offspring creator contemplates next project". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
[edit]
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