David Whish-Wilson (born 1966) is an Australian

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of nine novels and three non-fiction books. He was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

but raised in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He left Australia in 1984 to live in Europe, Africa and Asia, where he worked as a barman, actor, streetseller, labourer, exterminator, factory worker, gardener,

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

, travel agent, teacher and

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. David’s first novel in the Frank Swann crime series, Line of Sight (Penguin Australia) was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award in 2012, and his novel True West was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction in 2020. He has since written three more in the series – the first three being published in Germany by Suhrkamp Verlag. David wrote the Perth book in the NewSouth Books city series, which was short-listed for a WA Premiers Book Award. David also teaches in the prison system in Perth and previously in Fiji, where he started the country's first prisoner writing program. He currently lives in

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, where he coordinates the

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

program at

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

Awards and nominations

*2010

Ned Kelly Awards The Ned Kelly Awards (named for bushranger Ned Kelly) are Australia's leading literary awards for crime writing in both the crime fiction and true crime genres. They were established in 1996 by the Crime Writers Association of Australia to reward ...

: Shortlisted for ''Line of Sight'' *2014 Shortlisted WA Premier's Book Awards for ''Perth'' *2015 Winner Patricia Hackett Prize for Fiction for ''The Cook'' *2020 Ned Kelly Awards: Shortlisted for ''True West'' *2022 WA Premiers Book Awards Fellowship: shortlisted *2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize: longlisted for The Sawdust House

Works

Novels

*''The Summons'' (2006, Random House) *''Line of Sight'' (2010, Penguin) "I therefore decided to write ''Line of Sight'' () as a crime novel, inspired by real events relating to the murder of

Shirley Finn Shirley June Finn, given name, née Shewring (2 November 1941 – 22 or 23 June 1975), was an Australian brothel keeper, nightclub operator and socialite who was shot dead at about midnight on 22–23 June 1975 in Perth, Western Australia. Her b ...

, but one whose characters are entirely fictionalised" *"In Savage Freedom" in Hard Labour (Crime Factory, 2012) *''Zero at the Bone'' (2013, Penguin) *''Perth'' (2013, New South Publishing) *''Old Scores'' (2016, Fremantle Press) *''The Coves'' (2018, Fremantle Press) *''True West'' (2019, Fremantle Press) *''Shore Leave'' (2020, Fremantle Press) *''The Sawdust House'' (2022, Fremantle Press) *''I Am Already Dead'' (2023, Fremantle Press)

References

External links

* * * * * * * Living people Writers from New South Wales Writers from Western Australia 1966 births Australian crime writers {{Australia-writer-stub

Awards and nominations

Works

Novels

See also

References

External links