A fourth-generation Tasmanian, Noel Wilson Norman was born at 'Claremont House', an imposing residence on the outer edges of Hobart. On both sides, his family could trace their history back to the earliest days of the colony. A rebel from an early age, Norman had a chequered educational career at The Hutchins School in Hobart before leaving home at the age of fifteen. Until his return to Tasmania in 1922, when he began to write full-time, Norman lived on outback stations in Western Australia and subsequently used this location as his setting for a number of his novels.
Under pseudonyms, usually 'Louis Kaye', Norman began writing for newspapers and magazines such as the Bulletin, Smith's Weekly and Aussie and was successful in publishing stories in overseas magazines in both England and the United States from the 1920s through to the 1950s. He had short stories listed in O'Brien's Best Short Stories in 1929 and 1931 and the Sunday Times considered his first novel Tybal Men (1931) to be the best Australian novel since Clarke's His Natural Life. (Margaret Giordano and Don Norman Tasmanian Literary Landmarks (1984) p.153-159.) Brother of Don Norman (q.v.).
