Peter Robb (born 1946 in Toorak,

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 ...

) is an Australian author. Robb spent his formative years in Australia and New Zealand. As a young man he was involved in a small

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

organisation named the Communist League, which was sympathetic to the Fourth International. Robb helped produced its newspaper, ''Militant'', and was also key in the departure of a section of the Communist League's leadership, through absorption by the Socialist Workers Party in 1976 (see Fusion Statement of SWP and ex-CL Group in "Direct Action", 25 November 1976). Robb left Australia 1978, and lived much of the time in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

and southern Italy, interspersed with sojourns to Brazil. At the end of 1992 he returned to Sydney. He experiences in Southern Italy were recounted in his first book, '' Midnight in Sicily'', which was published in Australia in October 1996. In 1997 it won the

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

prize of the

Victorian Premier's Literary Award 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 ...

, the

Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction The Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction, formerly known as the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has a remuneration of 25,000. The winner of this category p ...

,. His second book, '' M'', a biography of the Italian artist

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of h ...

, was published in Australia in 1998, and went on to provoke controversy when it was published in Britain two years later. In December 1999, he published ''Pig's Blood and Other Fluids'', a collection of three

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...

s. In October 2003, Robb published his fourth book, ''A Death in Brazil'', which was named ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

s non-fiction book of the year for 2004. In October 2010, his book ''Street Fight in Naples'' was published by

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

. He has taught 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 ...

, the

University of Oulu The University of Oulu ( fi, Oulun yliopisto) is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 13,000 students and 2,900 staff. 21 International Master's P ...

in Finland and the Istituto Universitario Orientale in Naples.

Bibliography

Books

*'' Midnight in Sicily'' (1996) *'' M'' (1998) *''Pig's Blood and Other Fluids'' (1999) *''A Death in Brazil'' (2003) *''Street Fight in Naples'' (2010) *''Lives'' (2012)

Essays and reporting

*Online version is titled "Art Gallery NSW's Michael Brand".

References

External links

Profile and interview
with ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' Australian crime writers Australian non-fiction writers Living people The Monthly people 1946 births Writers from Melbourne Australian male novelists Male non-fiction writers People from Toorak, Victoria Australian expatriates in Italy {{Australia-writer-stub