Nicholas Francis Ward Earls (born 8 October 1963) is a novelist from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, Australia, who writes humorous popular fiction about everyday life. The majority of his novels are set in his home town of Brisbane. He fronted a major Brisbane tourism campaign.

Biography

Earls was born on 8 October 1963 in

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the civil parish of Newtownards and the historic baron ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. He emigrated to Australia with his parents and sister at the age of nine. Living in

, he was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School there. He completed a medical degree at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

and worked as a GP before turning to writing.Silkstone, Dan
Mature face of Aussie lad lit
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 15 July 2006.

Career

Earls has been compared to

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work ...

. ''Zigzag Street'', his second novel, won the

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

in 1998 (sharing with

Kiran Desai Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971) is an Indian author. Her novel ''The Inheritance of Loss'' won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 "mo ...

's ''Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard''). His young-adult novel, ''

48 Shades of Brown ''48 Shades of Brown'' is a young-adult novel by Australian author Nick Earls, published by Penguin Books in 1999. The novel was awarded ''Children's Book of the Year: Older Readers'' by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 2000. The nov ...

'', won the

Children's Book Council of Australia The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents the annual Children's Book of the Year Awards to books of literary merit ...

Book of the Year Award for older readers in 2000. Several of his novels (''After January'' and ''48 Shades of Brown'') have been adapted for theatre, and ''48 Shades of Brown'' was adapted into a film entitled '' 48 Shades'', released in August 2006. Earls has also written other novels, including ''Bachelor Kisses'' (which borrows its title from a song by Brisbane band

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout ...

), ''Perfect Skin'', ''World of Chickens'', ''The Thompson Gunner'', and young adult novels ''After January'', and ''Making Laws for Clouds''.Sunny Garden – The Official Nick Earls Website
''Sunny Garden – The Official Nick Earls Website''. 23 April 2007. Earls has also contributed to the four best-selling anthologies in the ''Girls' Night In'' series as well as ''Kids' Night In'' and ''Kids' Night in 2'' as editor. His most recent novels are ''Welcome to Normal'', a collection of original short stories, ''The True Story of Butterfish'', about a former rock star re-adjusting to mundane life in the Brisbane suburbs, and ''Monica Bloom'', based on his own adolescent experience of an ill-fated crush. Several of his books have been adapted for the stage by Brisbane's La Boite Theatre Company. He is referenced in the film ''

All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane ''All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane'' is a 2007 Australian romantic comedy film directed by Louise Alston and written by Stephen Vagg. It follows Anthea, a 25-year-old girl who hates her job and has to sit back and watch as all her friends mo ...

''.

Bibliography

For children

Series: Word Hunters

Short fiction

Collections

* * *

Poetry

Critical studies and reviews

* Review of ''The fix''. *Introduction to a reissue of ''The Delinquents'' by Criena Rohan, 201
Retrieved 17 October 2015

References

External links

Nick Earls – the official Nick Earls web site
*'' ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNZNgkrZU0s&list=PLrqonDHggzO9AedJor3-1E91xA6aD7OYT&index=78 Stories from the Q150 Steam Train – Nick Earls' by Nick Earls, a 3 min 56 sec video, published by

State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contain ...

as part of Storylines:Q150 digital stories {{DEFAULTSORT:Earls, Nick 20th-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian male short story writers 1963 births Living people People from Newtownards People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School University of Queensland alumni University of Queensland Mayne Medical School alumni Northern Ireland emigrants to Australia Writers from Brisbane 20th-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian short story writers 20th-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian male writers