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Michelle de Kretser

ミシェル・デ・クレッツァー

Michelle de Kretser

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1957 （Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)）
Nationality
Australian
Languages
English
Residence History
Sri Lanka (birthplace) → Australia (moved to Melbourne, 1972–) → France (resided in Paris)

Career

Occupations
novelist, editor
Active Years
1989-
Influenced By
Shirley Hazzard
Nominations
2008 Man Booker Prize longlist (The Lost Dog), 2014 International Dublin Literary Award shortlist (Questions of Travel), 2018 Stella Prize shortlist (The Life to Come)

Education

Methodist College, Colombo
Period: 1960s–1970s
Country: Sri Lanka
Secondary education in Colombo.
Elwood College
Period: 1970年代
Country: Australia
One of the schools she attended after moving to Melbourne.
University of Melbourne
Country: Australia
Attended; specific degree information not available.

Awards

Commonwealth Writers' Prize (South-East Asia and the Pacific)
2004
Work: The Hamilton Case
Organization: Commonwealth Foundation
Result: winner
Encore Award
2004
Work: The Hamilton Case
Organization: Encore Award (UK)
Result: winner
Tasmania Pacific Prize
2005
Work: The Hamilton Case
Organization: Tasmania Pacific
Result: winner
Liberatur Award
2007
Work: The Hamilton Case
Organization: Liberatur
Result: winner
ALS Gold Medal
2008
Work: The Lost Dog
Organization: Association for the Study of Australian Literature
Result: winner
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
2008
Work: The Lost Dog
Category: Book of the Year / Fiction
Organization: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
Result: winner
ALS Gold Medal
2013
Work: Questions of Travel
Organization: Association for the Study of Australian Literature
Result: winner
Miles Franklin Award
2013
Work: Questions of Travel
Organization: Miles Franklin Award
Result: winner
Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction
2013
Work: Questions of Travel
Category: Fiction
Organization: Prime Minister's Literary Awards
Result: winner
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Fiction & Premier's Prize
2013
Work: Questions of Travel
Category: Fiction / Premier's Prize
Organization: Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
Result: winner
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
2014
Work: Questions of Travel
Category: Book of the Year / Fiction
Organization: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
Result: winner
Miles Franklin Award
2018
Work: The Life to Come
Organization: Miles Franklin Award
Result: winner
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
2019
Work: The Life to Come
Organization: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
Result: winner
Rathbones Folio Prize
2023
Work: Scary Monsters
Category: Fiction
Organization: Folio Prize
Result: winner
Stella Prize
2025
Work: Theory & Practice
Organization: The Stella Prize
Result: winner
Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction
2025
Work: Theory & Practice
Category: Fiction
Organization: Prime Minister's Literary Awards
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Rose Grower

1999 Novel

Her first novel, exploring personal relationships, memory and sense of place.

memorypersonal relationships

The Hamilton Case

2003 Historical fiction / Novel

Set in colonial Ceylon, the novel deals with law, class, race and memory.

colonialismlaw and justicememory

The Lost Dog

2007 Novel

A novel prompted by a lost dog that reflects on life, writing and friendship.

creativityfriendshiploss

Questions of Travel

2012 Novel

Explores travel, migration, belonging and the modern experience of movement and memory.

travelmigrationbelonging

Springtime

2014 Novel

A novel characterized by urban disquiet and ghostly undercurrents.

urban lifeanxietyghostliness

The Life to Come

2017 Novel

Interweaves voices and times to examine love, culpability and historical debts.

lovehistoryresponsibility

Scary Monsters

2021 Novel

Addresses contemporary anxieties and individual isolation; contains short-story-like elements.

anxietyisolationcontemporary society

Theory & Practice

2024 Novel

Examines the relation of theory and practice, disillusionment with fictional heroes, and feminism in practice.

theory vs practicefeminismcultural critique

On Shirley Hazzard

2019 Non-fiction

An essay/critical work on the writer Shirley Hazzard.

literary criticismwriter studies

Bibliography

  • The Rose Grower (1999)
  • The Hamilton Case (2003)
  • The Lost Dog (2007)
  • Questions of Travel (2012)
  • Springtime (2014)
  • The Life to Come (2017)
  • Scary Monsters (2021)
  • On Shirley Hazzard (2019)
  • Theory & Practice (2024)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
detailed, observant proseshifting perspectives and temporal structurepostcolonial sensibility
Recurring Motifs
migration and travelmemory and the pasturban landscapesidentity

Legacy

Michelle de Kretser is internationally acclaimed for works addressing migration, colonial history and contemporary urban anxieties. She is a two-time winner of the Miles Franklin Award and has received multiple New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards among other major prizes.

Trivia

  • Moved from Sri Lanka to Australia in 1972 at age 14.
  • Her father was Oswald Leslie De Kretser III, a judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon.
  • Worked as an editor for travel guide publisher Lonely Planet.
  • Has won the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction three times, equalling Peter Carey's record.