Cory Taylor (1955 – 5 July 2016) was an Australian writer.
Taylor was born in
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
, Queensland and lived in Fiji and Kenya as a child. She studied history at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
, and then worked as a freelance film and television writer, with her work including the 1988 two-part television film ''
Alterations'' for the ABC. Her first books were the ''Rat Tales'' and ''Bandaged Bear'' series of children's books.
Diagnosed with
melanoma
Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...
in 2005, Taylor turned to writing fiction and her 2011 début novel, ''Me and Mr Booker'', won the
Commonwealth Book Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
for the Pacific Region in 2012. Her next book, ''My Beautiful Enemy'' (2013), was shortlisted for the
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...
.
As her health worsened, Taylor wrote her last book ''Dying: A Memoir'', which was published just before her death from melanoma-related brain cancer on 5 July 2016.
It was shortlisted for the 2017
Stella Prize
The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys W ...
and included in
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
's list of best books in 2017.
Bibliography
* ''Rat Tales'', illustrated by Stephen Michael King, Scholastic Australia, Sydney, 1999, Vol. 1, ''Rat's Lucky Day'' and ''Rat Goes Fishing'', ; Vol. 2, ''Rat and the Rude Cap'' and ''Rat and the Big Stink''
* ''Bandaged Bear and the Broken Bones'', co-authored with Peter Townsend, Scholastic Australia, Sydney, 2001,
* ''Bandaged Bear Saves His Breath'', co-authored with Peter Townsend, Scholastic Australia, Sydney, 2001,
* ''Bandaged Bear and the Birthday Party'', co-authored with Peter Townsend, Scholastic Australia, Sydney, 2002,
* ''Me and Mr Booker'', Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2010,
** German: ''Mr. Booker und ich'', List/Ullstein Verlag, Berlin, 2019,
*
* ''My Beautiful Enemy'', Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2013,
* ''Dying: A Memoir'', Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2016,
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Cory
1955 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Australian women writers
20th-century Australian writers
21st-century Australian novelists
21st-century Australian women writers
Australian children's writers
Australian National University alumni
Australian television writers
Australian women children's writers
Australian women novelists
Australian women screenwriters
Deaths from brain tumor
Deaths from cancer in Queensland
Deaths from melanoma
Griffith Review people
Australian women television writers
Writers from Queensland