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Thea Astley

ティア・アストリー

Tia Asutorī

Aliases: Beatrice May Astley / Phillip Cressy / Thea Gregson
Pen Names: Phillip Cressy（Pseudonym used for submitting poetry as a male to receive higher pay）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1925-08-25 （Brisbane, Queensland）
Died
2004-08-17 （Tugun, Queensland） age 78
Nationality
Australian
Languages
English
Religion
Catholic
Residence History
Brisbane, Queensland → Sydney, New South Wales → Macquarie University, Sydney → Kuranda, Queensland → Nowra, New South Wales → Byron Bay, New South Wales

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Short story writer, Teacher
Active Years
1958-2004
Affiliations
Macquarie University
Influenced By
Patrick White, Hal Porter, Thomas Keneally
Influenced
Kate Grenville

Education

All Hallows' School
General education
Period: 幼少期から高校
Country: Australia
Educated at this girls' school

Awards

Miles Franklin Award
1962
Work: The Well Dressed Explorer
Organization: Miles Franklin Literary Award
Result: 受賞
Miles Franklin Award
1965
Work: The Slow Natives
Organization: Miles Franklin Literary Award
Result: 受賞
Moomba Award
1965
Work: The Slow Natives
Result: 受賞
Miles Franklin Award
1972
Work: The Acolyte
Organization: Miles Franklin Literary Award
Result: 受賞
The Age Book of the Year Fiction Award
1975
Work: A Kindness Cup
Organization: The Age
Result: 受賞
Colin Roderick Award
1979
Work: Hunting the Wild Pineapple
Organization: James Cook University
Result: 受賞
Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
1980
Organization: Australian Government
Result: 受賞
ALS Gold Medal
1986
Work: Beachmasters
Organization: Association for the Study of Australian Literature
Result: 受賞
Patrick White Award
1989
Result: 受賞
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize
1990
Work: Reaching Tin River
Category: フィクション
Organization: NSW Government
Result: 受賞
Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
1992
Organization: Australian Government
Result: 受賞
The Age Book of the Year Fiction Award
1996
Work: The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow
Organization: The Age
Result: 受賞
Miles Franklin Award
1999
Work: Drylands
Organization: Miles Franklin Literary Award
Result: 受賞
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Fiction Book Award
2000
Work: Drylands
Organization: Queensland Government
Result: 受賞
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Special Award
2002
Organization: NSW Government
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Slow Natives

1965 Novel

A novel set in a small Queensland community exploring everyday human relationships.

Queensland landscapePolitics of small communitiesHuman folly

Bibliography

  • Girl with a Monkey (1958)
  • A Descant for Gossips (1960)
  • The Well Dressed Explorer (1962)
  • The Slow Natives (1965)
  • A Boat Load of Home Folk (1968)
  • The Acolyte (1972)
  • A Kindness Cup (1974)
  • An Item from the Late News (1982)
  • Beachmasters (1985)
  • It's Raining in Mango (1987)
  • Reaching Tin River (1990)
  • Vanishing Points (1992)
  • Coda (1994)
  • The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (1996)
  • Drylands (1999)
  • Hunting the Wild Pineapple (1979, short stories)
  • Collected Stories (1997)

Adaptations

  • Descant for Gossips (1983, ABC miniseries)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Meticulous and controlled languageMetaphoric styleFormal syntaxLush imagery
Recurring Motifs
Queensland landscape and charactersGeography and politics of small communitiesRelations between white and Indigenous AustraliansCatholic influencesRacism and injustice

Legacy

Won the most Miles Franklin Awards (4 times) in Australian literary history. Known for works set in Queensland, she was the only woman novelist of her generation to achieve early success and consistent publication in a male-dominated literary world.

In Popular Culture

  • Thea Astley lecture instituted at Byron Bay Writers Festival
  • Plaque in Sydney Writers Walk at Circular Quay

Quotes

  • Queensland is the place where the tall yarn happens, where it is lived out by people who are the dramatis personae of the tall yarns.
    Source: Interview
  • I can't resist using imagistic language. I like it.
    Source: Interview with Candida Baker (1986)

Trivia

  • Known as a chain-smoker, always with cigarettes
  • Loved jazz and chamber music with her husband
  • Drew material from newspaper stories and travels
  • Advised students: writing one page a day adds up to a book in a year