Alan David Gold (1945 – June 2024) was an Australian novelist, columnist, and human rights activist.

Life and career

Born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, United Kingdom, Alan Gold began his working life on British provincial newspapers such as the ''

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

'' before becoming a freelance correspondent in the United Kingdom and Europe. He and his wife Eva moved to Australia in 1970. He wrote more than thirty books which were published and translated internationally. His novels dealt with a wide range of subjects, most often associated with modern and ancient history and politics and

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. He was a regular literary critic for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' and also an opinion columnist for ''

The Spectator Australia ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

''. In June 2000, he was the New South Wales Human Rights Orator, as well as the

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International ( ; from ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit Jewish service organization and was formerly a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants to the United States. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the se ...

Human Rights Orator in Sydney and Melbourne. He was a visiting guest lecturer in literature at major Australian universities and a regular lecturer and speaker on matters of literature, racism, and human rights. He was a past President of the Anti-Defamation Unit of B'nai B'rith, was a member of think tanks the

Sydney Institute The Sydney Institute is a privately funded Australian policy forum founded on the 23 of August, 1989. The institute took over the resources of the New South Wales division of the Institute of Public Affairs. Columnist and writer Gerard Henderso ...

and the

Centre for Independent Studies The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is an Australian think tank founded in 1976 by Greg Lindsay. The CIS specialises in public policy research and publishes material in areas such as economics, education, culture and foreign policy. Alth ...

, and a board member of the international writers' centre, Varuna, the Vice President of the human rights program Courage to Care, and the literary co-ordinator of the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

University Shalom College's Festival, Limmud Oz. He was a visiting scholar to the Melbourne Limmud Oz. He was married with three children and lived in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. Gold died after a long illness in June 2024. His funeral was held at Rookwood Cemetery on 19 June 2024.

Bibliography

Books

Essays and columns

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Growing internet dependence sapping our life skills

References

External links

Simon & Schuster author page

HarperCollins author page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Alan 1945 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian people of German-Jewish descent Jewish Australian writers Writers from Sydney British emigrants to Australia Jewish English writers English people of German-Jewish descent The Spectator people 21st-century Australian male writers