Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He is especially known for '' The Slap'', which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and television.

Early life

Tsiolkas was born and raised in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

with his Greek immigrant parents, and was educated at Blackburn High School. Tsiolkas completed his Arts Degree at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

in 1987. He edited the student newspaper ''

Farrago Farrago is a Latin word, meaning "mixed cattle fodder", used to refer to a confused variety of miscellaneous things. As a name, it may refer to: * ''Farrago'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Poaceae * ''Farrago'' (magazine), student newsp ...

'' in 1987.

Career

Tsiolkas' first novel, '' Loaded'' (1995), about an alienated closet gay youth in Melbourne, was adapted as the feature film '' Head On'' (1998) by director

Ana Kokkinos Ana Kokkinos is an Australian film and television director and screenwriter of Greek descent. She is known for her breakthrough feature film, '' Head On'' (1998), and has also directed television shows such as ''The Secret Life of Us'' and '' ...

, starring Alex Dimitriades. His fourth novel, '' The Slap'', was published in 2008, and won several awards as well as being longlisted for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

and shortlisted for the

Miles Franklin Literary 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 (1879–19 ...

. It was also highly successful commercially; it was the fourth-highest selling book by an Australian author in 2009.

Awards

*1999:

AWGIE Award for Stage The AWGIE Award for Stage is awarded by the Australian Writers' Guild at the annual AWGIE Awards for Australian performance writing. The award is for the playscript. To be eligible, the play must have had its first professional production (as distin ...

, for ''Who’s Afraid of the Working Class?'' (with Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, and Melissa Reeves) *2006: ''The Age'' Fiction Book of the Year#Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award *2009:

Commonwealth Writers 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 ...

, overall winner for best book, for '' The Slap'' *2009:

ALS Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the ...

, for ''The Slap'' *2009: Nielsen BookData Booksellers' Choice Award, for ''The Slap'' *2009: ABIA Book of the Year. *2009:

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction The Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, formerly known as the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an remuneration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vi ...

, for ''The Slap'' *2020: Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, for ''Damascus'' (2019) *2021:

Melbourne Prize for Literature The Melbourne Prize for Literature is an award given by the ''Melbourne Prize Trust'', which was founded by Simon Warrender in 2005. The trust grants awards on a rolling three-year basis for Urban Sculpture, Literature and Music, in that order. The ...

Personal life

Tsiolkas is a

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

supporter and gay.

Books

* '' Loaded'' (1995) * ''Jump Cuts'' (with Sasha Soldatow, 1996) * ''The Jesus Man'' (1999) * ''The Devil's Playground'' (2002) * ''Dead Europe'' (2005) * '' The Slap'' (2008) * ''Barracuda'' (2013) * ''Merciless Gods'' (2014) * ''Damascus'' (2019) * ''7 1/2'' (2021)

Theatre

* ''Who's Afraid of the Working Class?'' (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 1999 * ''Elektra AD'' (1999) * ''Viewing Blue Poles'' (2000) * ''Fever'' (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 2002) * ''Dead Caucasians'' (2002) * ''Non Parlo di Salo'' (with Spiro Economopoulos, 2005) * ''The Hit'' (with Netta Yashin 2006)

Screenplays

* ''Thug'' (

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, with Spiro Economopoulos, 1998) * ''Saturn's Return'' (2001), a telemovie starring

Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his appearance in the ''Star Wars'' films ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as a young Owen Lars, a role he reprised i ...

and

Damian Walshe-Howling Damian Walshe-Howling (born 22 January 1971 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian actor, well known for his role as Andrew "Benji" Veniamin in the Australian underworld drama, ''Underbelly'', for which he won the Best Supporting or Guest Ac ...

* '' Little Tornadoes'' (2021), co-written with director Aaron Wilson

Film and TV adaptations

*The play ''Who's Afraid of the Working Class?'' (1999) was made into the film ''

Blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...

'' (2009), directed by

. * The 2006 novel '' Dead Europe'' was made into the film '' Dead Europe'' (2012), directed by Tony Krawitz and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee. *''The Slap'' has been turned into both an Australian and U.S. television miniseries. *''Barracuda'' was adapted for television in 2016.

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsiolkas, Christos 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century Australian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century LGBT people ALS Gold Medal winners Australian gay writers Australian LGBT novelists Australian male dramatists and playwrights Australian male novelists Australian people of Greek descent Australian social commentators Cultural critics LGBT dramatists and playwrights Living people People educated at Blackburn High School Social critics University of Melbourne alumni Writers about activism and social change Writers from Melbourne Year of birth missing (living people)