Robert Hillman Robert Hillman i(A23087 works by)
Born: Established: 1948 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Robert Hillman grew up in a working class family in Eildon, in country Victoria. He left school at an early age to travel, later returning to complete his secondary schooling and attend university. He taught literature in high schools and at university, before deciding to write full-time.

Hillman has also written numerous information books for children, for series published by Collins/Angus and Robertson, Binara Publishing and Echidna Books.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2018 12973595 2018 single work novel historical fiction

'Tom Hope doesn’t think he’s much of a farmer, but he’s doing his best. He can’t have been much of a husband to Trudy, either, judging by her sudden departure. It’s only when she returns, pregnant to someone else, that he discovers his surprising talent as a father. So when Trudy finds Jesus and takes little Peter away with her to join the holy rollers, Tom’s heart breaks all over again.

'Enter Hannah Babel, quixotic smalltown bookseller: the second Jew—and the most vivid person—Tom has ever met. He dares to believe they could make each other happy.

'But it is 1968: twenty-four years since Hannah and her own little boy arrived at Auschwitz. Tom Hope is taking on a batttle with heartbreak he can barely even begin to imagine.' (Publication Summary)

2019 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year
y separately published work icon Shining : The Story of a Lucky Man Sydney : HarperCollins Australia , 2015 8535176 2015 single work autobiography

' A remarkably warm-hearted, uplifting and inspiring story of one boy's survival against the odds.

'Abdi's world fell apart when he was only fifteen and Somalia's vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some sixty others,heading to Kenya. On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost four months, they arrived in at refugee camps in Kenya - of the group he'd set out with, only five had survived.

'All alone in the world and desperate to find his family, Abdi couldn't stay in Kenya, so he turned around and undertook the dangerous journey back to Mogadishu. But the search was fruitless, and eventually Abdi made his way - alone, with no money in his pockets - to Romania, then to Germany, completely dependent on the kindess of strangers. He was just seventeen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. He had no English, no family or friends, no money, no home. Yet, against the odds, he not only survived, he thrived. Abdi went on to complete secondary education and later university. He became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS second series of Go Back to Where You Came From.

'Despite what he has gone through, Abdi is a most inspiring man, who is constantly thankful for his life and what he has. Everything he has endured and achieved is testament to his quiet strength and courage, his resilience and most of all, his warm-hearted, shining and enduring optimism.' (Publication summary)

2016 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Multicultural NSW Award
y separately published work icon Vera : My Story Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2015 8406578 2015 single work biography

'My revenge on Hitler is … a lifetime in which delight has reached me from a hundred sources, and been welcomed.

'A story of courage, unconventionality and lust for life.

'Vera Wasowski was just seven years old when German soldiers marched her and her family into the Lwów Jewish ghetto in Poland. She watched her father take his own life and her mother accede to sexual blackmail in order to ensure their survival. Her story is one of a child surviving hell.

'After the war, Vera studied journalism at Warsaw University, where she threw herself into the bohemian scene. In 1958, she migrated to Australia with her husband and young son, to escape rising anti-Semitism. There she would carve out a bold career as a TV researcher and producer at the ABC on pioneering programs such as This Day Tonight. It was a wild time for politics, arts and the media, and Vera was at the centre of things, mixing with the Hawkes in the eighties, and forming a close friendship with artist Mirka Mora.

'In his inimitable style, acclaimed biographer Robert Hillman captures Vera’s fierce and passionate take on life and tells her amazing story.' (Publication summary)

2016 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Multicultural NSW Award
Last amended 3 Oct 2012 16:59:58
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