Peter Cowan (4 November 1914 – 6 June 2002) was a

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

writer, noted especially for his short stories.

Biography

Born in 1914 in South Perth, Peter Walkinshaw Cowan was the son of Norman Walkinshaw Cowan and Marie Emily Johnston. His grandmother was Australia's first female parliamentarian, Edith Dircksey Cowan. He was descended from several Western Australian pioneering families, including the Browns of York, the Cowans and the Wittenooms. After leaving Wesley College,

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in 1930, Cowan worked in insurance and as a farm labourer before completing his matriculation at Perth Technical College and subsequently entering the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilitie ...

in 1938. After completing his teaching qualifications, he worked as a teacher at Wesley College. He married Edie Howard and they had a son, Julian. The family moved to

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 met ...

in 1943 while Cowan was serving in the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. While in Melbourne, he became involved in the ''

Angry Penguins ''Angry Penguins'' was an art and literary journal founded in 1940 by surrealist poet Max Harris, at the age of 18. Originally based in Adelaide, the journal moved to Melbourne in 1942 once Harris joined the Heide Circle, a group of avant-garde ...

'' modernist literary movement. After the war, Peter Cowan returned to Perth and taught English and Geography for many years at Scotch College. In 1964, he became a Senior Tutor in English at the University of Western Australia, and later an Honorary Research Fellow after his retirement. Edith Cowan University Path of Honour: Peter Walkinshaw Cowan

Works

Peter Cowan published eight volumes of short stories, five novels and three biographies. He also edited two books of diaries and letters and co-edited seven volumes of short fiction. His first published work was a short story, "Living", published in ''Angry Penguins'' in 1943. Over the next twenty years, he continued to publish short stories. He received a

Commonwealth Literary Fund The Commonwealth Literary Fund (CLF) was an Australian Government initiative founded in 1908 to assist needy Australian writers and their families. It was Federal Australia's first systematic support for the arts. Its scope was later broadened to e ...

Fellowship in 1963 to write his first novel, ''Summer''. His other novels included ''Seed'' (1966), ''The Color of the Sky'' (1986) and ''The Hills of Apollo Bay'' (1989). In later years, he was particularly active in recording his family's pioneering history in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He wrote a biography of his grandmother Edith Dircksey Cowan, entitled ''A Unique Position'' (1978), and a biography of her uncle

Maitland Brown Maitland Brown (17 July 18438 July 1905) was an explorer, politician and pastoralist in colonial Western Australia. He is known as the leader of the La Grange expedition and massacre, which searched for and recovered the bodies of three colon ...

(1988), as well as editing the letters of Eliza and Thomas Brown (''A Faithful Picture'', 1977), and the diary and reports of Walkinshaw Cowan (''A Colonial Experience'', 1978). For many years, he was co-editor of the literary journal ''Westerly'' and wrote many articles and reviews for it. His manuscripts and his extensive Australiana book collection are held in Special Collections in the University of Western Australia Library. UWA Library: Peter Cowan Collection

Awards

Peter Cowan's novel ''The Color of the Sky'' won the Western Australian Premier's Book Award for Fiction and the Western Australia Week Literary Award in 1986. In 1987, he was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

, and in 1992 he received the

Patrick White Award The Patrick White Award is an annual literary prize established by Patrick White. White used his 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature award to establish a trust for this prize. The $25,000 cash award is given to a writer who has been highly creative o ...

for an Australian Writer of Great Distinction.

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. Gaining unive ...

conferred its first Honorary Degree (Doctor of Philosophy) on Peter Cowan in 1995. In 1997, the Peter Cowan Writers' Centre was established at the

Joondalup Joondalup () is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth's central business district. It contains the central business district of the regional City of Joondalup and acts as the primary urban centre of Perth's outer ...

Campus of Edith Cowan University, based in the reconstructed house of his grandmother. He was named one of Western Australia's Living Treasures in 1999, and was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to literature through writing.

The Peter Cowan Short Story Competition

The Peter Cowan Short Story Competition was launched by the Peter Cowan Writers Centre in 2010, in honour of Peter Cowan.Peter Cowan Writers Centre
/ref> The Competition involves the submission of stories of a maximum of 600 words, and is administered by the Peter Cowan Writers Centre in Joondalup, Western Australia.

Selected bibliography

*''Drift'' (1944) short stories *''The Unploughed Land'' (1958) novella / short stories (some reprinted from Drift, above) *''Summer'' (1964) novel *''The Empty Street'' (1965) novella / short stories *''Seed'' (1966) novel *''The Tins'' (1973) short stories *''Mobiles'' (1979) short stories *''The Color of the Sky'' (1986) novel *''A Window in Mrs X's Place'' (1986) selected short stories from previous volumes *''Voices'' (1988) short stories *''The Hills of Apollo Bay'' (1989) novel *''The Tenants'' (1994) novel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Peter Writers from Perth, Western Australia 1914 births 2002 deaths People educated at Wesley College, Perth Patrick White Award winners Australian male writers