Benjamin Law (writer)
Benjamin Law | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1982 (age 35) Nambour, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation | Author, journalist |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Period | 2000s–present |
| Notable works | The Family Law, Gaysia |
| Website | |
| benjamin-law | |
Benjamin Law is an Australian author and journalist. He is best known for his books The Family Law, a family memoir published in 2010,[1] and Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East, a journalistic exploration of LGBT life in Asia.[2]
Born in Nambour, Queensland[3] to immigrant parents from Hong Kong, he is currently based in Sydney.[4] He is openly gay.[5][6]
Career
The Family Law was a shortlisted nominee for Book of the Year at the 2011 Australian Book Industry Awards,[1] and was adapted by Matchbox Pictures into a six-part television series for the SBS network in 2016, which Law created and co-wrote with Marieke Hardy (Series 1) and Kirsty Fisher and Lawrence Leung (Series 2).[7] It won the Screen Producers Awards for Best Comedy (2016)[8], Equity Ensemble Award for outstanding performances by television ensemble casts in Australian comedy (2016)[9] and was nominated for two AACTA Awards[10].
As a journalist, he has contributed to publications including Frankie, The Australian Financial Review, The Saturday Paper,[11] The Monthly, The Courier-Mail and its Qweekend supplement, Griffith Review, Fairfax Media's Good Weekend magazine, The Big Issue and Crikey.[1]
Controversy
On 12 September 2017, the Australian newspaper criticised Law for tweeting: "Sometimes find myself wondering if I’d hate-fuck all the anti-gay MPs in parliament if it meant they got the homophobia out of their system" in reference to Australia's same-sex marriage postal survey. It was later revealed that the tweet was over a week old, that hate-fucking referred to a consensual acts and that the Australian's report coincided with the release of Law's 25,000 word investigative Quarterly Essay which examined that newspaper's flawed coverage of the Safe Schools program. Law later publicly thanked the newspaper for the free publicity.[12] George Christensen MP said, "It’s ironic that most supporters of Safe Schools say they support it because it’s anti-bullying and yet they engage in some of the worst online bullying you’d ever encounter."[13][14]
Law's Quarterly Essay subsequently became the #2 top-selling book in Australia's independent bookshops.[15]
Bibliography
 |
Books
- The Family Law (2010, ISBN 9781863954785)
- Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East (2012, ISBN 9781863955768)
Essays and reporting
- Law, Benjamin (2017). Moral Panic 101 - Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal. Quarterly Essay. Vol. 67. Black Inc. ISBN 9781863959513.
References
- ^ a b c "Law unto himself: The Family Law author Benjamin Law". Meld, 27 March 2012.
- ^ Robert Dessaix, "Queer and Loathing". The Monthly, September 2012.
- ^ Benjamin Law. "Benjamin Law". Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ^ http://benjamin-law.com/
- ^ "Over the rainbow". The Hindu, 20 December 2013.
- ^ "Gay, lesbian or queer writing". The Book Show, 7 February 2011.
- ^ "Benjamin Law Comedy in Production at Matchbox Pictures". Pedestrian Daily, 16 October 2013.
- ^ http://tvtonight.com.au/2016/11/screen-producers-awards-2016-winners.html
- ^ http://www.equityfoundation.org.au/equity-news/barracuda-the-family-law-and-cleverman-win-7th-annual-equity-ensemble-awards.html
- ^ http://www.aacta.org/the-awards/television-awards.aspx
- ^ "Benjamin Law" The Saturday Paper, 20 December 2014
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/15/benjamin-law-thanks-news-corps-unholy-alliance-for-free-publicity
- ^ "Gay rights activist slammed for lewd tweets". Sky News. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Coalition MPs lash out at 'vile' tweet by same-sex marriage advocate". News Ltd. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/AusIndieBooks/posts/1385774108208373
External links
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