Bryce Courtenay Bryce Courtenay i(A35074 works by) (birth name: Arthur Bryce Courtenay)
Born: Established: 14 Aug 1933 Johannesburg,
c
South Africa,
c
Southern Africa, Africa,
; Died: Ceased: 22 Nov 2012 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: 1958
Heritage: South African
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
2 y separately published work icon The Silver Moon : Reflections on Life, Death and Writing Bryce Courtenay , Melbourne : Penguin Books , 2014 7722361 2014 single work autobiography

'Each of us has a place to return to in our minds, a place of clarity and peace, a place to think, to create, to dream. For Bryce Courtenay this place was a waterhole in Africa where he used to escape to as a boy, in search of solitude. One evening, while lingering there, he witnessed the tallest of the great beasts drinking from the waterhole in the moonlight, and was spellbound. Ever since, he drew inspiration from this moment.

'The Silver Moon gathers together some of the most personal and sustaining life-lessons from Australia's favourite storyteller. In short stories and insights, many written in his final months, Bryce reflects on living and dying, and how through determination, respect for others and taking pleasure in small moments of joy, he lived life to the fullest.

'From practical advice on how to write a bestseller to general inspiration on how to realise your dreams, The Silver Moon celebrates Bryce Courtenay's lifelong passion for storytelling, language and the creative process, and brings us closer to the man behind the bestsellers.'

1 form y separately published work icon Bryce Courtenay : The Last Class Bryce Courtenay , ( dir. Kyle O'Donoghue ) Campbell : Bryce Courtenay International , 2013 7148603 2013 single work film/TV

'Bryce Courtenay Australia’s best-selling author ran 'The Last Class' writing workshop just months before he passed away. This unforgettable documentary is a profound and deeply moving experience. It will inspire you to reach out and discover your own 'Power Of One'. 'The Last Class' records Bryce's original insights into how he wrote 21 bestsellers in 23 years. For writers, this film will give you the confidence and motivation to start writing your own bestselling novel, family memoir, or work of nonfiction. You may also discover how to inject more energy into your business presentations. ' (Production abstract)

1 7 y separately published work icon Jack of Diamonds Bryce Courtenay , Melbourne : Viking , 2012 Z1812762 2012 single work novel

'Born and raised in a poor, working-class family in Toronto, Jack Spayd is the son of an unhappy marriage. But when he is given a harmonica as a young boy, he discovers a talent for music that will change his life forever. After being taken under the wing of "Miss Frostbite", the owner of a local jazz club, Jack becomes a gifted musician, playing piano and harmonica.

'After the death of his mother, he travels to Las Vegas and finds work in the clubs there, but is increasingly drawn to gambling. He earns a reputation as a good player, which brings him to the attention of the mafia. Jack wants to join the professional circuit, and to do that he needs serious money behind him. It's this need that sees him travel to the Belgian Congo, where he's heard it's possible to earn big money working in the most dangerous parts of the local copper mines.

'He gradually falls in love with Africa - and then with a beautiful Ethiopian woman. They move to London, where they bring up a daughter who becomes a supermodel. In a dramatic twist, the story returns to Africa - and to a fortune in diamonds.

'Jack of Diamonds is the story of a young, talented man, fighting to achieve his ambitions, and having to use his considerable talents to find his way in a perilous world.' (From the Angus and Robertson Bookstore website.)

1 Bryce Courtenay : Doesn't Care for Five-Star 'Nonsense' of Zanzibar's Cheapest Digs Bryce Courtenay , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 21 November 2010; (p. 29)
1 8 y separately published work icon Fortune Cookie Bryce Courtenay , Camberwell : Penguin , 2010 Z1739756 2010 single work novel 'Simon Koo is an ambitious Australian-born Chinese who goes to Singapore in the mid-sixties to work for Samuel Oswald Wing, an advertising agency. But the Wing brothers, who run the agency, are not what they seem. There is soon trouble when Simon falls in love with the forbidden Mercy B. Lord, the illegitimate daughter of a Japanese officer and a Chinese mother who abandoned her on the doorstep of a Catholic orphanage. With no family or connections, this beautiful young woman is powerless to resist the evil influence of Beatrice Fong, a manipulative businesswoman, who, in league with the Wing brothers, lures her into the dark and dangerous international trade in sex workers and heroin trafficking involving the American CIA. Simon ... must save her at any cost. ... Fortune Cookie [is] a love story set against the wretched trade in drugs and human misery operating during the Vietnam War.' (Penguin website)
1 8 y separately published work icon The Story of Danny Dunn Bryce Courtenay , Camberwell : Viking , 2009 Z1647392 2009 single work novel

'In the aftermath of the Great Depression few opportunities existed for working-class boys, but at just eighteen Danny Dunn has a good deal going for him: brains, looks, sporting ability - and an easy charm. His parents run The Hero, a favourite neighbourhood pub, and Danny is a local hero.

'Luck changes for Danny when he signs up to go to war. He returns home a physically broken man, to a life that will be changed for ever. Together with Helen, a woman of strength, character and intelligence who becomes his wife, he sets about rebuilding his life. It is a life tormented by personal demons, and shaped by compassion, corruption, love and power - and the gift of twin daughters, Sam and Gabby.

'Set against a backdrop of Australian pubs and politics, The Story of Danny Dunn is an Australian family saga spanning three generations. It is a compelling tale of love, ambition and the destructive power of obsession, at a time of great change in Australia's history.' (From the publisher's website.)

1 What I Know About Women Bryce Courtenay , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: Sunday Life , 25 October 2009; (p. 38)
1 Let's Preserve Our Literary Voice: Bryce Courtenay Bryce Courtenay , 2009 single work correspondence
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 April 2009; (p. 16)
1 All I Want for Christmas... Germaine Greer , Bryce Courtenay , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: SundayLife , 21 December 2008; (p. 10-12, 14)

'What would you like for Christmas, if there were no strings attached? We asked some famous Australians - and a couple of New Zealanders - what they would most like to see in their stocking.'

Those questioned are: Mike Hussey, Jennifer Hawkins, Tim Finn, Germaine Greer, Bryce Courtenay, Libby Trickett and Rhys Darby.

1 4 y separately published work icon Fishing for the Stars Bryce Courtenay , Camberwell : Penguin , 2008 Z1543295 2008 single work novel

'Nick Duncan is a semi-retired, wealthy shipping magnate who lives in idyllic Beautiful Bay, Vanuatu, where he is known as the old patriarch of the islands. He is grieving the loss of his Eurasian true love, Anna, and is suffering for the first time from disturbing flashbacks to the Second World War.

'So he puts pen to paper and tells the compelling tale of the life he has lived since his war-hero days - a life of adventure, ambition, and fortunes made and lost. A life that has had at its heart the love of two passionate and unforgettable - but very different - women.

'The seductive Anna Til and the beguiling Marg Hamilton have spent a lifetime in contest for Nick's devotion. Nick remains torn between them, and struggles between their two opposing worlds of economic exploitation and environmental crusade - until he is called upon to referee ...

'Moving between the exotic Pacific Islands, Japan and Australia, over several decades, Fishing for Stars is an epic drama of adventure, ambition and unconventional love, and the stunning sequel to Bryce Courtenay's best-selling The Persimmon Tree.' (From the publisher's website.)

1 The Forgetting of Wisdom Bryce Courtenay , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13 October 2008; (p. 10)
Bryce Courtenay, one of three Australians included in Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 70/70 collective, reflects on the value of wisdom.
1 y separately published work icon The African Collection Bryce Courtenay , Camberwell : Penguin , 2008 6154042 2008 selected work novel
1 3 y separately published work icon The Persimmon Tree Bryce Courtenay , Camberwell : Viking , 2007 Z1428136 2007 single work novel 'A sweeping saga of love, war and friendship, set in the Pacific from the Battle of Guadalcanal (1942) to the present day. The novel follows a young Australian man's coming of age, escape from the Japanese and the friendships made that affect the rest of his life.' (Libraries Australia)
1 5 y separately published work icon Sylvia Bryce Courtenay , Camberwell : Viking , 2006 Z1331181 2006 single work novel historical fiction 'Sylvia is a story of the Children's Crusade, which occurred in the year 1212. It is perhaps the strangest true event to have taken place in European history. I enjoyed the digging that uncovered it - buried in a dark corner of times long out of mind. It is also a story of how, throughout some of the darkest medieval times, the redeeming power and strength of a young woman's love and intelligence prevail over poverty, brutality and bigotry.' (Source: Author's abstract)
1 Tears and Cheers : Bryce Courtenay Reveals the Books that Made Him Cry Bryce Courtenay , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 23-24 December 2005; (p. 24)
1 My Other Life Bryce Courtenay , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: SundayLife , 11 December 2005; (p. 15)
2 8 y separately published work icon Whitethorn Bryce Courtenay , Camberwell : Viking , 2005 Z1224158 2005 single work novel historical fiction

'From Bryce Courtenay comes a new novel about Africa. The time is 1939. White South Africa is a deeply divided nation with many of the Afrikaner people fanatically opposed to the English.

'The world is also on the brink of war and South Africa elects to fight for the Allied cause against Germany. Six-year-old Tom Fitzsaxby finds himself in The Boys Farm, an orphanage in a remote town in the high mountains, where the Afrikaners side fiercely with Hitler's Germany.

'Tom's English name proves sufficient for him to be ostracised, marking him as an outsider. And so begin some of life's tougher lessons for the small, lonely boy. Like the Whitethorn, one of Africa's most enduring plants, Tom learns how to survive in the harsh climate of racial hatred. Then a terrible event sends him on a journey to ensure that justice is done. On the way, his most unexpected discovery is love.' (Publication summary)

1 Rewind 1968 Bryce Courtenay , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: SundayLife , 20 March 2005; (p. 62)
Bryce Courtenay reflects on his days of writing 30-seconds advertisements for television and contrasts this with the discipline required to write a book.
1 Another Thing Bryce Courtenay , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 23 January 2005; (p. 12)
1 Brothers in Arms, Set for Ever Bryce Courtenay , 2005 extract novel (Brother Fish)
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 5 January 2005; (p. 17)
X