Jared Thomas is an Indigenous author, playwright, poet, and academic. He grew up in Port Augusta on Nukunu country, and his mother's Aboriginal family came from Winton, Queensland.
Thomas holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing, and a Masters in Creative Writing from Adelaide University. He has been a freelance journalist, film script editor, and writer, and since, 2006 has lectured in communications, film, literature, and art at the University of South Australia. He has also worked as the Manager of the Indigenous Arts and Culture Division of Arts, South Australia, and has coordinated Nukunu Peoples Council cultural heritage, language, and arts projects.
His first play 'Flash Red Ford' toured Uganda and Kenya in 1999, performed by a Ugandan company. In 2002, his work 'Love, Land and Money' was performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. At this time, Thomas began working as Manager of Indigenous Arts and Culture, a role in which he advocated and supported the development and aspirations of South Australian Aboriginal artists.
As well as being a playwright, Thomas began to develop his skills 'as a fiction writer with several short stories and poems being published in anthologies.' (Heiss and Minter 2009). His first novel Sweet Guy published by IAD Press was shorted listed for both the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and the Festival Awards for Literature, South Australia.With his forthcoming novel Calypso Summer, Thomas was awarded the Kuril Dhagun Indigenous Writing Fellowship in 2013.
