Philip McLaren (born 1943) is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

author and academic known for literary fiction, detective stories and thrillers.

Biography

McLaren is an Aboriginal Australian of the Kamilaroi people. Both of his parents, who have some Scottish heritage, are from

Coonabarabran Coonabarabran is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 2,537, Material was copied from this s ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He was born in Redfern, Sydney. He holds a Doctor of Creative Arts degree. He has worked in a range of occupations, including as an illustrator, designer, animator, sculptor,

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

and creative director in television, advertising and film production companies. Over a period of 12 years he lived and worked in Canada, USA, England, New Zealand and the Bahamas. He has delivered lectures or readings at a range of institutions and festivals across the world, including the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

in Canada; the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

;

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

;

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establish ...

; Melbourne Writers Festival;

Adelaide Writers' Week Adelaide Writers' Week, known locally as Writers' Week or WW, is a large and mostly free literary festival held annually in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, it forms part of the ...

; Sydney Writers' Festival;

Byron Bay Writers Festival The Byron Bay Writers Festival (also called Byron Writers Festival) is a literary event taking place annually in Byron Bay, New South Wales. The festival commenced in 1997 and was founded by Chris Hanley and a dedicated group of volunteers who in ...

; New Zealand's inaugural Toi Maori Festival; and was invited by the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

to speak at their inaugural Writers’ Festival at the

Haus der Kulturen der Welt The Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), in English House of the World's Cultures, in Berlin is Germany's national center for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary arts, with a special focus on non-European cultures and so ...

in Berlin. McLaren was a member of the working party involved in the creation of the

First Nations Australia Writers Network The First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) is the peak advocacy body for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers, storytellers and poets in Australia. History The seeds for the organisation were sown at the Guwanyi Indigenous ...

(FNAWN) in 2012. He has worked as a lecturer at

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 ...

. He lived in the Byron Bay area of

as of 2009.

Writing career

McLaren is known for literary fiction, detective stories and thrillers. He has also written non-fiction, social commentary, screenplays and academic essays. Four of his novels have been translated and distributed internationally.

Awards

*''Sweet Water – Stolen Land'' received the 1992 David Unaipon Award for Australian Indigenous literature. *''Murder in Utopia'' (published in some countries as ''Utopia'') won the 2010 Récit de l'Ailleurs (meaning "story from elsewhere") prize, voted by students at Lycée-Collège d'État Émile Letournel, a high school in the French overseas territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. It was also nominated at the

Ned Kelly Awards The Ned Kelly Awards (named for bushranger Ned Kelly) are Australia's leading literary awards for crime writing in both the crime fiction and true crime genres. They were established in 1996 by the Crime Writers Association of Australia to reward ...

for crime writing.

Books

*''Sweet Water – Stolen Land'' (

University of Queensland Press Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house. Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetr ...

, 1993) – historical fiction *''Scream Black Murder'' (HarperCollins, 1995) – crime fictionTony Smith (2002), "Keeper of Dreams: review — Review of Scream Black Murder Philip McLaren 1995 novel ; There'll be New Dreams Philip McLaren 2001 novel", Australian Book Review, issue 238 *''Lightning Mine'' (HarperCollins, 1999) – thriller *''There’ll be New Dreams'' (Magabala Books, 2001) – historical fiction *''Murder in Utopia'' *''West of Eden''

References

External links