Phillip Gwynne Phillip Gwynne i(A3779 works by)
Born: Established: 1958 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Phillip Gwynne grew up in rural areas in Victoria and South Australia. He graduated from James Cook University with a degree in Marine Biology and has worked in many jobs in Australia and overseas.

Gwynne's first novel, Deadly, Unna? was widely praised for its contribution to Australia's young adult fiction, and won several awards, including the Victorian Premier's Literary Award (young-adult fiction), the Children's Peace Literature Award, and the Children's Books Council Book of the Year Award (older readers). The background of Australian Rules Football has made the novel's examination of race relations in rural Australia attractive to young male readers.

The film adaptation, Australian Rules, attracted controversy when members of a South Australian Aboriginal community complained about scenes depicting the death of two young Aboriginal people, arguing that Gwynne, who also wrote the screenplay, should not have appropriated the story from their community.

Despite the controversy, the film was nominated for several awards (and won the AFI Award for best adapted screenplay), and a sequel, Nukkin Ya,  was written, attracting further praise and award nominations.

Gwynne wrote children's book The Worst Team Ever, between Deadly, Unna? and Nukkin Ya, and has since gone on to write a wide range of children's literature, including thrillers in the six-part The Debt series. He has also published the occasional picture book, including Little Owl and Brothers from a Different Mother.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2021 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships Individuals and Groups
2020 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships 2020 Resilience Fund: Survive     $2,000 
2013 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships New Work - Established Writers Young adult literature (for 12 to 18 years)

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Catch the Zolt! The Debt : Instalment One Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2013 Z1905436 2013 single work children's fiction thriller children's

'It's a beautiful day in paradise. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. And Dom Silvagni, eldest brother, indifferent student and elite middle distance runner, is turning fifteen.

'But instead of cake and candles, Dom receives the most unlikely gift. An ancient family debt from an organisation so secretive and powerful, they are only known as The Debt. And The Debt have made it clear -- Dom must perform six Herculean tasks or lose a pound of flesh.

'The Debt has ways of making Dom believe and before long he has his first instalment. He must catch The Zolt -- the 17-year-old Facebook Bandit who has stolen light planes, boats and cars from 'deserving' homes on nearby Reverie Island. But getting close to the Zolt means persuading his neighbour, the smug self-obsessed Tristan, to invite him to his sumptuous holiday home. And it seems Tristan has an angle too ... and it involves Imogen, the only girl close to Dom's heart.

'Caught between a rock and a hard place, Dom has to honour his family. But the more he discovers about his father, the less he seems to know. Meanwhile The Debt wants its payment ... now!' (From the publisher's website.)

2018 shortlisted West Australian Young Readers' Book Award Older Readers
y separately published work icon Swerve Camberwell : Penguin , 2009 Z1625437 2009 single work novel young adult (taught in 1 units)

'One of the country's finest young cellists, 16 year-old Hugh Twycross has a very bright future. A future that has been mapped out by his parents, his teachers, by everybody, it seems, except Hugh Twycross.

'Hugh has a secret, though: he loves cars and he loves car racing. When his newly discovered grandfather, Poppy, asks him to go on a road trip to Uluru in his 1970 Holden HT Monaro, Hugh decides, for once in his life, to do the unexpected.

'As they embark on a journey into the vast and fierce landscape of the Australian interior, Hugh discovers that Poppy has a secret that will unravel both their lives and take them in a direction they never expected.'

2010 shortlisted Inky Awards Gold Inky
2010 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Writing for Young Adults
2010 shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Best Young Adult Book
2010 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards Young Adults' Fiction
y separately published work icon The Build Up Sydney : Macmillan Australia , 2008 Z1515915 2008 single work novel crime

'For Detective Dusty Buchanon, a female cop in the very male world of the Northern Territory Police Force, it always pays to expect the unexpected. When the body of a young Thai prostitute is found in a billabong near a camp of disaffected Vietnam Veterans, Dusty knows this is what she's been looking for - a spectacular case to get her back on top after the debacle of an infamous British backpacker murder trial that almost destroyed her career.

'But when the body disappears and her colleagues turn against her, Dusty gets help from an unlikely source: a handsome German bird-watcher holidaying in the Northern Territory, who just happens to be a cop. And soon, the case becomes much more than just another step on her career ladder...' (Publisher's blurb)

2009 shortlisted Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing Best First Novel
2009 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian General Fiction Book of the Year
Last amended 16 Nov 2021 13:48:40
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