Aussie Authors.

Nick Cave?

Max Barry and Peter Carey are the only two I can think of off the top of my head. The latter wrote a collection of short stories called The Fat Man in History which I absolutely adore.

i thought you'd be able to give me a little more, sam. tisk tisk. ha ha. i like the sound of Peter Carey's collection, though. i'll be sure to check it out.

Nick Cave. Of Course. i only just read TDOBM recently.

i think i'm going to start buying 'The Best Australian Stories/Essays'.

Haha, my apologies. I've thought of one more: Marcus Zusak. He has a very simple writing style, but I particularly enjoyed The Messenger. Upon perusing my bookshelf, it seems I very rarely read Australian authors. I'm not sure why.

But yes, definitely pick up a copy of Fat Man if you can, it's probably my all-time favourite collection of shorts.

yeah? well, i will. i'll stick it on my web-pile.

i was thinking the same, about not reading much aussie lit. and i want to. i just want to read some decent aust authors. there's a few badies.

I like John Birmingham too, funny stuff. How about Andrew McGahan? I really liked Praise and 1988.

I also like Melina Marchetta, but she probably doesn't write the sort of stuff you're into.

Ah, Looking for Alibrandi is a classic!

i love Alibrandi. it is such an aussie classic. did you study it in school, Sam? we did. i think in year 10, maybe. can't believe i left her off the list.

No, I didn't study it at school unfortunately. Each year of high school there had to be at least one Australian book on the book list, and they were always the worst of the lot.

I had totally forgotten that Max Barry was Australian.

As a proud Brisburnian I reckon you can't go past John Birmingham - his recent essays in the Monthly are always inimitable. His article about the National Party in this month's issue is fantastic.

I think Nick Cave's status as a great Australian author is a little dubious at this early stage, but I don't doubt he has more excellent writing to come. Don't get me wrong; I am possibly the most fanatical devourer of all thing Nick Cave. His music, art, prose, poetry, screenplays and the art of his life and demeanour is astonishing, but his first novel was self-admittedly a burdensome read (though phenomenally executed in terms of Cave-ian discourse)and TDOBM was a beastly, sexual revelation but I'm not sure Nick's made it into my Australian literary canon just yet.

If you have to read just one of Peter Carey's short stories, make absolutely sure its "Crabs". Holy Jesus, this is one of my favourite short stories ever. It was made into a film in the late 1980's, I read, but I can't remember what the name of the movie was. Has anyone seen it? I never sought it out because I read that the ending was changed dramatically - its probably pretty hard to film the sort of surreal transendence that polishes off the story (I won't give away the ending).

Other favourite Australian novels:

Peter Carey - True history of the Kelly Gang (Undeniable Aussie Classic)
Oscar and Lucinda

David Malouf - Antipodes (Short Stories from another Brisbanite)

Patrick White - The Tryborn Affair

People often forget that Schindler's Ark (List) is wholly Australian and that, despite his sometimes corny interaction in public life and preoccupation with war, the author Thomas Keneally has been a driving force in Australian writing. See also Three Cheers for the Paraclete and The Tyrant's Novel.

And don't forget about Judith Wright (another Qld'er). I also rate Luke Davies and Alice Pung, who both contribute to the Monthly, and Mungo McCallum for his political expositions (unavoidably biased as they may be).

Having wracked my brain though, the list still seems so suprisingly short. Perhaps there's more room in Australia's literary market than I thought!

Oi Parker! Poor form on the stealing of the avatar front. Tisk tisk.

In other news, I'll definately check out Birmingham. It's good to see another Aussie here. We'll have to start a gang soon.

Yes! I recently read Jellicoe Road which everyone else went crazy over, but I didn't love it. I'm going to pick up Saving Francesca soon.

I'm another Aussie, Matt, I'll join your gang.

yaaayyyyyyyy! we're taking over! there are four of us now. should we just steal some kiwi's and claim them as our own? i'm pretty sure Lizardking would be down for that. ha ha ha!

I just thought of another Aussie author who I love - Nick Earls. My favourites of his are 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street, After January, and Perfect Skin.

no, not saying fail, you're right. but i only just change mine, like two days ago from screamy faced man to that screen shot, except mine said "look out". i only changed it again because samanywhere had it aswell! booooooo!

and clem, great stuff! you're coming out with some goodies. this thread is less dead then i thought it would be.

Saving Francesca is great, I think I may have enjoyed it more than Alibrandi, actually.

Also, for a bit of ridiculousness, you can't go past Matthew Reilly.

this is becoming such a great little shopping list.

i just got back from borders. i'm going through this phase at the moment where i want to know, read, buy more aussie authors. and also, "the greats". you know, the classics you should read but sometimes just look over.

so i bought:

Monkey Grip - Helen Garner.

Candy - Luke Davies, cause i don't have my own copy. and thinking abou tit the other day made me really want to re-read it.

Moby Dick.

Bleak House.

Notes From The Underground.

was going to buy Jennifer Gov't but started running out of cash. looked for the Peter Carey collection but it wasn't there. there was a bunch of other novels of his; Bliss (sounded pretty good), The True History of Ned Kelly. some others. but like i said, started running out of cash.

good times.

You'll probably have trouble finding the Peter Carey shorts in stores; I wanted to give it to a friend a few months ago and was unable to find it in the dozen or so stores I visited. I had to resort to Fishpond.

yeah, i figured as much. so, i just put it in my ABE basket.

fishpond? imma check that shit out.

oh, i should have put the news of Marchetta's new novel in here.

piper's son, out now. should be sweet good.

also, Sam de Brito is another one. he has a novel out called the Lost Boys, which i have but am yet to read--looking forward to it though because he has a pretty funny, witty and enlightening weekly column in a sunday newspaper called Everybody is a Liar*

*except Sam de Brito.

classic, right?

I can't believe I forgot Max Berry was Australian. Idiot!

I love his stuff. One of my favorite modern writers.

I don't remember this thread... I'm glad you bumped it. I'm going to give it a reread.

yeah, i'm gonna have to add a whole bunch to it, too. i've been reading a lot of great aussie lit of late. i even found out a lady from my town, Karen Hitchcock, had released a collection of shorts late last year. i've read abot three of the stories so far, and loved them. i discovered her in the 2009 edition of best australian stories. she's like Bazell; has a medicine degree and a masters in creativ writing. fucking insane. and she got them from the uni i am attending. cool.

I'm reading Saving Francesca right now, I'll keep an eye out for The Piper's Son too.

oh, actually, it was you, wasn't it, Clem? you're the one that liked Marchetta, not Sam? or maybe not. anyway, Francesca was great. hope you love it.

I was wrong about Adam Johnson who wrote Parasites Like Us. He's living in San Fransciso right now I think... My bad.

yeah; but is he from australia? because i don't think Max Barry lives in australia anymore.

No he's always been from the states.

I'm pretty sure Max Berry is still living in Australia... I could be wrong though.

interesting. i may have to get better at my stalking abilities.

Ok - I just skimmed through this again and I can't believe nobody mentioned Will Elliot (The Pilo Family Circus). Seriously - this place loves that book!

I found these links on wikipedia. The only ones I knew on here were Max Berry and Will Elliot though. So yeah:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_authors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Australian_horror_writers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Australian_mystery_writers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Australian_science_fiction_writers

I think it's funny that they put Max Berry under Sci-fi. I'm not sure I would classify him that way...