His father’s experiences as a survivor of the Burma Death Railway influenced him to write on the wartime brutality and its aftermath.
Charming, erudite and opinionated, he is one of the finest novelist of his generation who has single-handedly given voice to Tasmania. Â
He has written on various topics for international press including Le Monde, The Daily Telegraph (London), New York Times.
Childhood
Richard Miller Flanagan was born in Longford, in 1961. He grew up in the remote mining town of Rosebery.Â
Flanagan left school at sixteen to work as a bush laborer. He later attended the University of Tasmania, graduating with first class honours in 1982. The following year, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship at Worcester College, Oxford, where he was admitted to the degree of Master of Letters in History.Â
Works
He wrote four history books before turning to fiction. His first novel, the much celebrated “Death of a River Guide” (1994), tells the tale of Aljaz Cosini, a guide on the Franklin River who lies drowning as he relives his life and the lives of his forbears. It won major Australian literary prizes including the 1996 National Fiction Award and was described by the Times Literary Supplement as ‘one of the most auspicious debuts in Australian writing.’Â
His second novel, “The Sound of One Hand Clapping” (1997), set in the Central Highlands of Tasmania, tells the story of Slovenian immigrants. It was similarly critically acclaimed and has sold over 150,000 copies in Australia. Flanagan’s first two novels, declared as the finest fiction out of Australia since the heyday of Patrick White by Kirkus Reviews.Â
His most recent novel was “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” (2013). The life story of Dorrigo Evans, a flawed war hero and survivor of the Death Railway, it was hailed by “The Australian” as “beyond comparison … An immense achievement” and “a masterpiece” by “The Guardian”.
Flanagan has written on literature, environment, art and politics for the Australian and international media. One of his essay on environment inspired a Sydney businessman to stop the construction of a $2 billion pulp mill.
He also wrote and directed the 1998 film, “The Sound of One hand Clapping” which had its world premiere in competition at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival.
AwardsÂ
He won the 2014 Man Booker Prize.His third novel, “Gould’s Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish” won Best Book for the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize in the South East Asia & South Pacific Region. Flanagan’s essay on Pulp Mill won the 2008 John Curtin Prize for Journalism.