image of person or book cover 3128049283441392289.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave single work   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The first volume of the long-awaited, near-mythical biography of Nick Cave, by award-winning writer, Mark Mordue.

'A beautiful, profound, profane and poetic biography of the early formative years of the dark prince of Australian rock 'n' roll, Boy on Fire is Nick Cave's creation story. This is the story of the artist first as a boy, then as a young man. A deeply insightful work which charts his family, friends, influences, milieu and, most of all, his music, it reveals how Nick Cave shaped himself into the extraordinary artist he would become.

'As well as a powerfully compelling biography of a singular, uncompromising artist, Boy on Fire is also a fascinating social and cultural biography, a vivid and evocative rendering of a time and place, from the fast-running dark river and ghost gums of Wangaratta, to the nascent punk scene which hit staid 1970s Melbourne like an atom bomb, right through to the torn wallpaper, sticky carpet and the manic, wild energy of nights at the Crystal Ballroom.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Fourth Estate , 2020 .
      image of person or book cover 3128049283441392289.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 432p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 19 November 2020
      ISBN: 9781460713211 (ebk), 9781460759646 (hbk)

Other Formats

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon In Conversation with Tim Byrne Jack Callil (presenter), 2021 23440281 2021 single work podcast

'In today's episode of the ABR Podcast Tim Byrne discusses his review of Mark Mordue's new biography of Nick Cave, Boy on Fire, with ABR Digital Editor Jack Callil.'(Production summary) 

The Boy from Wang John Encarnação , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , May 2021;

— Review of Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave Mark Mordue , 2020 single work biography

'A friend and I are fans of Nick Cave’s iconoclastic band of the early 1980s The Birthday Party. Part of our enjoyment is that we find Cave’s vocal and lyrical posturing hilarious at times. In songs like ‘Release The Bats’ and ‘Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow)’ his shrieks are both terrifying and absurd. At such moments, my friend will occasionally address the stereo with something like, ‘you’re not fooling anyone Nick, we know you’re a good private schoolboy!’' (Introduction)

Try a Little Tenderness Felicity Plunkett , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 9 January 2021; (p. 14)

— Review of Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave Mark Mordue , 2020 single work biography
Immortality on His Mind : A Reductive Study of the Young Nick Cave Tim Byrne , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January–February no. 428 2021; (p. 32-33)

— Review of Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave Mark Mordue , 2020 single work biography
Immortality on His Mind : A Reductive Study of the Young Nick Cave Tim Byrne , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January–February no. 428 2021; (p. 32-33)

— Review of Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave Mark Mordue , 2020 single work biography
Try a Little Tenderness Felicity Plunkett , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 9 January 2021; (p. 14)

— Review of Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave Mark Mordue , 2020 single work biography
The Boy from Wang John Encarnação , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , May 2021;

— Review of Boy on Fire : The Young Nick Cave Mark Mordue , 2020 single work biography

'A friend and I are fans of Nick Cave’s iconoclastic band of the early 1980s The Birthday Party. Part of our enjoyment is that we find Cave’s vocal and lyrical posturing hilarious at times. In songs like ‘Release The Bats’ and ‘Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow)’ his shrieks are both terrifying and absurd. At such moments, my friend will occasionally address the stereo with something like, ‘you’re not fooling anyone Nick, we know you’re a good private schoolboy!’' (Introduction)

y separately published work icon In Conversation with Tim Byrne Jack Callil (presenter), 2021 23440281 2021 single work podcast

'In today's episode of the ABR Podcast Tim Byrne discusses his review of Mark Mordue's new biography of Nick Cave, Boy on Fire, with ABR Digital Editor Jack Callil.'(Production summary) 

Last amended 29 Nov 2022 15:35:02
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