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Robert Drewe

ロバート・ドリュウ

Robāto Doryū

Aliases: Robert Duncan Drewe

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1943-01-09 （Melbourne, Victoria, Australia）
Nationality
Australian
Languages
English
Religion
Unknown
Residence History
Melbourne, Victoria → Perth, Western Australia → North Coast of New South Wales and North Fremantle, Western Australia

Career

Occupations
novelist, non-fiction writer, short story writer, journalist, columnist, editor
Active Years
1976-
Affiliations
The West Australian, The Age, The Australian, The Bulletin
Memberships
Literature Board of the Australia Council, Australian Society of Authors, Sydney Writers' Festival management committee, Byron Bay Writers Festival management committee
Nominations
Queensland Literary Awards Steele Rudd Award shortlist

Education

Hale School
Country: Australia
High school
University of Queensland
Degree: 名誉文学博士
Country: Australia
Honorary Doctorate in Literature
University of Western Australia
Degree: 名誉文学修士
Country: Australia
Honorary Doctorate of Letters

Awards

Walkley Award
1976
Category: journalism
Organization: Walkley Foundation
Result: winner
Walkley Award
1981
Category: journalism
Organization: Walkley Foundation
Result: winner
National Book Council Award (Banjo Award)
1986
Work: Fortune
Category: fiction
Organization: National Book Council
Result: winner
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Work: The Bay of Contented Men
Category: Australasia and South-East Asia
Result: winner
Premier's Literary Prize
1996
Work: The Drowner
Result: winner (all states)
Australian Book of the Year Prize
1996
Work: The Drowner
Result: winner
Adelaide Festival Prize for Literature
1996
Work: The Drowner
Result: winner
Western Australian Premier's Prize for Non-Fiction
2000
Work: The Shark Net
Category: non-fiction
Result: winner
Courier Mail Book of the Year Prize
2000
Work: The Shark Net
Result: winner
Vision Australia Award
2000
Work: The Shark Net
Result: winner
Colin Roderick Award
2019
Work: The True Colour of the Sea
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Shark Net

2000 non-fiction/memoir

Memoir of childhood in Perth intertwined with memories of a serial killer.

familymurdersuburban Australia
Adaptations
  • [TV mini-series] The Shark Net (2003)
  • [radio drama] The Shark Net

The Drowner

1996 novel

Historical novel set in 19th-century Australia.

historylovewater

Our Sunshine

1991 novel

Story of Ned Kelly.

crimehero
Adaptations
  • [film] Ned Kelly / Gregor Jordan (2003)

The Bodysurfers

1983 short story collection

Short stories about Australian beach life.

beachfamily
Adaptations
  • [TV mini-series] The Bodysurfers
  • [theatre] The Bodysurfers

Bibliography

  • The Savage Crows
  • A Cry in the Jungle Bar
  • Fortune
  • Our Sunshine
  • The Drowner
  • Grace
  • Whipbird
  • Nimblefoot
  • The Bodysurfers
  • The Bay of Contented Men
  • The Rip
  • The Local Wildlife
  • The True Colour of the Sea
  • The Shark Net
  • Walking Ella
  • Montebello: A Memoir

Style & Themes

Literary Style
straightforward but expressive prosetraces of black humourprecise detail of human interaction
Recurring Motifs
Australian beacheshistory and the pastnational identity

Legacy

Key figure in Australian literature, transitioned from journalism to fiction, acclaimed for works on beaches, history, and social mores, winner of numerous awards.

Archives

  • Papers of Robert Drewe, University of Western Australia

In Popular Culture

  • Works adapted into films, TV miniseries, radio, and theatre.

Quotes

  • A world where characters barely comprehend events, life and nature verge on malevolent, shards of sudden insight illuminate confusion.
    Source: Murray Waldren, The Diviner (1996)

Trivia

  • Six children from three marriages (a son died in 2019)
  • Began journalism career at 18 as cadet reporter
  • Received Leader Grant travel scholarship from US Government