Suzanne Falkiner (born 1952) is an Australian writer.

Biography

Born in Sydney, Falkiner grew up in western New South Wales. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

and later completed postgraduate courses in fiction, non-fiction and editing at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 2005 she was awarded a Doctorate of Creative Arts by the University of Technology, Sydney. After travelling extensively and working in various publishing and editing positions, she currently lives in Sydney and works as a full-time writer.

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''Rain in the Distance'' (1986) novel * ''After the Great Novelist'' (1989) travel stories

Non-fiction

* ''Australian Aborigines: Shadows in a Landscape'' 1979 (with photographs by Laurence Le Guay): an essay on Aboriginal Australia * ''Australians Today'' 1985 (with photographs by Lorrie Graham): a portrait of multicultural Australia * ''Eugenia: A Man'' (1988) biography: the story of Eugenia Falleni, and the 'Man-Woman Case', about a transsexual accused of murder in 1920s Sydney. New edition with revisions and update chapter published by Xoum, Sydney, in 2014. * ''The Writer's Landscape: Wilderness and Settlement'' (1992) an essay in two volumes on the role of landscape in defining Australian literature. Deals with the writings of early settlers, explorers and social commentators through to later writers and poets including

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

Eve Langley Eve Langley (1 September 1904 – c. 1 June 1974), born Ethel Jane Langley, was an Australian-New Zealand novelist and poet. Her novels belong to a tradition of Australian women's writing that explores the conflict between being an artist and be ...

, Douglas Stewart,

Thea Astley Thea Beatrice May Astley (25 August 1925 – 17 August 2004) was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin ...

, Patrick White,

Randolph Stow Julian Randolph Stow (28 November 1935 – 29 May 2010) was an Australian-born writer, novelist and poet. Early life Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow was the son of Mary Campbell Stow née Sewell and Cedric Ernest Stow, a ...

Elizabeth Jolley Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO (4 June 1923 – 13 February 2007) was an English-born Australian writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s and forged an illustrious literary career there. She was 53 when her first book was publishe ...

Robyn Davidson Robyn Davidson (born 6 September 1950) is an Australian writer best known for her 1980 book ''Tracks'', about her 2,700 km (1,700 miles) trek across the deserts of Western Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about ...

* ''Ethel: A Love Story'' (1996) biography: a portrait of early 20th-century Australian society * ''

Lizard Island Lizard Island is an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland (Australia), northwest of Brisbane and part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island. It is part of the Lizard Island National Park. Lizard Island is within ...

: The Journey of Mary Watson'' (2001) biography, accompanied by a monograph on the artist Alan Oldfield and his narrative series of paintings 'The story of Mrs Watson 1881': explores the death of Mary Watson, her Chinese servant and her four-month-old baby son after their escape from

in Far North Queensland, and the previously-unrecorded massacre of Aborigines that followed * ''Joan in India'' (2008) biography: the story of Joan Falkiner, an Australian woman who married the Muslim ruler H.H. Taley Muhammed Khan, the Nawab of

Palanpur Palanpur is a city and a municipality of Banaskantha district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Palanpur is the administrative headquarters of Banaskantha district. Palanpur is the ancestral home to an industry of Indian diamond merchants. Ety ...

, in 1939, and lived with him in Gujarat throughout the period leading to Indian Independence * ''The Imago: E. L. Grant Watson & Australia'' (2011) biography, describes the Australian journeys of English biologist and writer Elliot Lovegood Grant Watson, and his subsequent works * ''Mrs Mort's Madness'' (2014), the true story of a Sydney scandal from 1920, involving the murder of

Claude Tozer Claude John Tozer DSO (27 September 1890 – 21 December 1920) was an Australian medical doctor and first-class cricketer who played for New South Wales. He was the nephew of Australian Test cricketer Percie Charlton. Early years and back ...

by his lover Dorothy Mort. Mort was found not guilty on the ground of insanity. * ''Mick: A Life of

'', (2016) biography * ''Rose'' The story of Rose de Freycinet, the first woman to circumnavigate the world and leave a written account of her journey, (2022) history, biography

As editor

* ''Room to Move: The Redress Press Book of Australian Short Stories'' (1985, United States 1986)

Awards and nominations

* 1980: Runner up in the Australian Vogel award * 1981: Runner up in the Australian Vogel award for ''Rain in the Distance'' * 1996: Shortlisted for the Nita B. Kibble Award in 1996 for ''Ethel: A Love Story'' * 2001: Shortlisted (with Alan Oldfield) for the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards (History) for ''Lizard Island: The Journey of Mary Watson'' * 2002: Shortlisted (with Alan Oldfield) for the NSW Premier's History Awards for ''Lizard Island: The Journey of Mary Watson'' * 2017: Shortlisted for the

National Biography Award The National Biography Award, established in Australia in 1996, is awarded for the best published work of biographical or autobiographical writing by an Australian. It aims "to encourage the highest standards of writing biography and autobiography ...

for ''Mick: A life of Randolph Stow'' * 2017: Shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction for ''Mick: A life of Randolph Stow

References

External links

*
Suzanne Falkiner website

By Suzanne Falkiner, 28 December 2002 * Prime Minister's Literary Awards 201

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkiner, Suzanne 1952 births 20th-century Australian novelists Australian biographers Australian women novelists University of New South Wales alumni University of Technology Sydney alumni Australian women biographers Living people 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century biographers