Jonathan Harlen is a New Zealand-born author, academic and musician now resident in Australia. He has published more than 30 novels for adults, young adults, and children. He has won numerous awards for young adult fiction including the Wilderness Society Literature Award, the NSW Office of Multicultural Affairs Literature Award, the Australian Association of Family Therapists Book Award, and the Royal Society for the Blind Talking Book Award. His novels have twice been recognised as Notable Books by the

Children's Book Council of Australia The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents the annual Children's Book of the Year Awards to books of literary merit ...

, and have been published in nine countries.

Early life

Harlen was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, and attended

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

, and Victoria University of Wellington, where he majored in English and political science. He completed his final year of university study in Jerusalem, Israel, after falling in love with an Israeli girl. He settled in Australia in 1986, where he worked initially as a journalist. He wrote comedy for radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

for two years and played in a variety of blues and rock bands before turning to writing fiction.

Literary career

Harlen was the recipient of a Fellowship from the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

in 1996 In the same year a play based on his novel ''The Lion And the Lamb'' toured high schools in Victoria. He has been Writer-in-Residence at Dromkeen,

Brisbane Grammar School , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , ci ...

Ipswich Grammar School , motto_translation = Work and Honour , address = Darling Street , city = Ipswich , state = Queensland , postcode = 4305 , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, single-sex, day & boa ...

, Essendon Grammar School,

Knox Grammar School , motto_translation = The Manly Thing Is Being Done , established = , founder = John Gilmore, William McIlrath, Robert Gillespie and Andrew Reid , type = Independent, day & boarding ...

Mitchelton Mitchelton is a north-western suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mitchelton had a population of 8,559 people. Geography The suburb is located by road from the Brisbane GPO. Mitchelton is part of the northwestern s ...

State High School,

Tin Can Bay Tin Can Bay is a coastal town and locality in the Wide Bay–Burnett region in Queensland, Australia. The locality is split between the Fraser Coast Region (the northern part of the locality) and the Gympie Region (southern part of the locality) ...

High School, and the

Fremantle Arts Centre The Fremantle Arts Centre is a multi-arts organisation based in a historic building complex on Ord Street in Fremantle, Western Australia. The heritage-listed building complex was built using convict labour between 1861 and 1868 and was used ...

. He has spoken and given workshops at many schools and literature festivals throughout Australia. Several of his childrens books have been bestsellers. In the 1990s and early 2000s his young adult novels regularly featured as set texts for Year 7-9 English students in Victoria and New South Wales. His work has been published in Italy, Denmark, South Korea, France, the United Kingdom, The USA, Canada and New Zealand. In October 2017 Harlen was

artist in residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

Southern Cross University Southern Cross University (SCU) is an Australian public university, with campuses at Lismore and Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, and at Coolangatta, the most southern suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland. It is ranked in the top ...

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore Local government in Australia, local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It ...

Music

in 2020 Harlen released an album of contemporary folk rock music,''Field of Dreams'', under the pseudonym Jack Straw. The album features eight of Harlen's original songs and explores a number of genres including blues, folk, roots, and folk rock. Fellow band members include Matt Day (guitar), James Pattugalan (drums) and Luke Ferguson (bass). A song from the album, Whispery Grey, was a finalist in the Australian Songwriters Association (ASA) Folk Song of the Year competition in 2021. Harlen continues to gig solo, mainly in the Northern NSW region.

Phd

in December 2021 Harlen received his Doctorate of Philosophy in Law from Southern Cross University for a thesis entitled "Woven Law: Te Nakahi and the Re-Storying of Sovereignty in Aotearoa/New Zealand". He has lectured in law at Southern Cross University since 2019 and maintains a research interest in legal pluralism and Treaty of Waitangi issues.

Awards and honours

*1996 Royal Blind Society Talking Book Award *1994 Wilderness Society Environment Award *1994 Family Award for Children's Literature *1994 NSW Office of Multicultural Affairs Literature Award (Fracture Zone) *1994 Children's Book Council Notable Book (Fracture Zone) *1992 Office of Multicultural Affairs Literature Award (The Lion And the Lamb) *1992 NSW Premier's Award (short-list, Young Adult fiction, The Lion and the Lamb) *1992 Children's Book Council Notable Book (The Lion and the Lamb) *1991 The Australian Books of the Year (short-list, Adult Fiction, The Greening of Copeland Park)

Published works

* ''The Greening of Copeland Park'' (1991) * ''The Lion And The Lamb'' (1992) * ''Fracture Zone'' (1994) * ''Mango'' (1994) * ''Lucy and the Whale'' (1994) * ''The Yowie Thief'' (1995) * ''Blackeye'' (1995) * ''The Dream of the Dusky Dolphin'' (1995) * ''The Carriers'' (1996) * ''Rincorrendo La Luna'' (Italy, 1996) * ''La Morsure'' (France, 1998) * ''The Crescent Moon'' (1998) * ''Champions'' (1999) * ''Kristen'' (2002) * ''Ildfleur'' (Denmark, 2002) * ''The Crescent Moon'' (South Korea, 2002) * ''Circus Berzerkus'' (2003) * ''The Cockroach War'' (2004) * ''Drop Dead Mad Dog Fred'' (2004) * ''The Mad Goat Mystery'' (2005) * ''Ziggy and the Plugfish'' (2005) * ''The Instant Tan'' (2007) * ''The Plague'' (USA, 2008) * ''Dangerous Games'' (2008) * ''Blood Sports'' (2008) * ''Playing with Fire'' (United Kingdom, 2010) * ''Dangerous Games'' (United Kingdom, 2010) * ''Fred Cane Pazzo'' (Italy, 2011)

References

External links

Interview with Jonathan Harlen in Viewpoint
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harlen, Jonathan 1963 births Living people New Zealand male novelists Victoria University of Wellington alumni People from Wellington City 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian male writers