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Richard Flanagan

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Richard Flanagan (born 1961) is an author and film director from Tasmania, Australia. He was president of the Tasmania University Union and a Rhodes Scholar at Worcester College, Oxford. is brother is journalist Martin Flanagan.

Early Life

A fifth generation Tasmanian,[1] Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania in 1961.[2][3][4]. He as a child, he grew up in the mining town of Rosebery on Tasmania's western coast.[1][2]

Education

Flanagan left school at the age of 16.[2][3] He returned to study at the University of Tasmania, where he was president of the Student Union. He achieved a first class honours degree in 1982.[5] In the following year was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. At Worcester College, Oxford, he was admitted to the degree of Master of Letters in History.[2][3]

The Franklin River and after

In the foreword to Flanagan's 1985 publication, A Terrible Beauty - History of the Gordon, Bob Brown wrote,

Australia has not heard the last of the Tasmanian wilderness nor, I happily predict, has it heard the last of Richard Flanagan.[citation needed]

Writing

Holding a history degree,[6][1]

  • (1984) Student accommodation crisis : a preliminary report[7]
  • (1985) A terrible beauty : history of the Gordon River country[8]
  • (1990) The Rest of the world is watching - Tasmania and the Greens[9]
  • (1991) Codename Iago : the story of John Friedrich[10][11]

As novelist

His first novel, Death of a River Guide (1994), was short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award, as were his next two, The Sound of One Hand Clapping (1997) and Gould's Book of Fish (2001). Two of his novels are set on the West Coast of Tasmania; where he lived in the township of Rosebery as a child. Death of a River Guide relates to the Franklin River, Gould's Book of Fish to the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, and The Sound of One Hand Clapping to the Hydro settlements in the Central Highlands of Tasmania.

The 1998 film of The Sound of One Hand Clapping, directed by Flanagan, was nominated for best film at that year's Berlin Film Festival. Gould's Book of Fish won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize. (When originally published in hardback, it had different sections in different type colour, with plates of the fish paintings interleaved in the text; the paperback edition has them at the rear of the book.)

Flanagan has written on Tasmanian politics for the Australian press, some of which have proved controversial: "The Selling-out of Tasmania", published after the death of popular former Premier Jim Bacon in 2004, was strongly critical of the Bacon government's relationship with corporate interests in the state.

Flanagan's 2007 article in The Monthly [12] is credited as catalysing Sydney businessman Geoffrey Cousins' high profile campaign against the Gunns' Tasmanian Bell Bay Pulp Mill [13].

Personal life

A painting of Richard Flanagan by artist Geoffrey Dyer won the 2003 Archibald Prize.

Bibliography

Incomplete - to be updated

Non-Fiction

  • Student Accommodation Crisis (1984)
  • A terrible beauty : history of the Gordon River country Richmond, Vic. : Greenhouse, 1985. ISBN 0-86436-001-0
  • The Rest of the World is Watching: Tasmania and the Greens Sydney: Sun, 1990. ISBN 0-7251-0651-4 (co-editor with Cassandra Pybus)
  • Codename Iago: The Story of John Friedrich Melbourne : William Heinemann Australia, 1991. ISBN 0-85561-452-8 (with John Friedrich)

Novels

Articles

  • Flanagan, Richard (2009). "The Nation Reviewed: The Road to Kinglake". The Monthly. 43: 12–14. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |day= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Koval, Ramona (2008-01-21). "Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  2. ^ a b c d "NOTES FOR READING GROUPS - Richard Flanagan" (PDF). Picador Australia. 2004-11-03. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  3. ^ a b c "Richard Flanagan". The British Council. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  4. ^ "Our Authors". Random House Australia. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  5. ^ "Author Biography". www.bookbrowse.com. 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  6. ^ MacFarlane, Robert (2002-05-26). "Con fishing". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  7. ^ "Student accommodation crisis : a preliminary report". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  8. ^ "A terrible beauty : history of the Gordon River country / Richard Flanagan". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  9. ^ "The Rest of the world is watching". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  10. ^ "Codename Iago : the story of John Friedrich : by John Friedrich with Richard Flanagan". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  11. ^ "Richard Flanagan". www.middlemiss.org. 2004-12-20. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  12. ^ http://www.themonthly.com.au/tm/?q=node/512,
  13. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/vision-ltd-turnbull-yes-to-mess-for-50-years/2007/10/05/1191091360751.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
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