Nicholas Paul Hasluck AM (born 17 October 1942) is an Australian novelist, poet, short story writer, and former judge.

Early life

Nicholas Hasluck was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. His father, Sir

Paul Hasluck Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck (1 April 1905 – 9 January 1993) was an Australian statesman who served as the 17th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1969 to 1974. Prior to that, he was a Liberal Party politician, holding minis ...

was a minister in the Federal Government under

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, and was later appointed Governor-General of Australia. Nicholas went to school at Scotch College,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, and

Canberra Grammar School Canberra Grammar School is a co-educational, independent, day and boarding school located in Red Hill, a suburb of Canberra, the capital of Australia. The school is affiliated with the Anglican Church of Australia and provides an education fro ...

, before studying law at

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

(1963) and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

(1966). After completing his studies he worked briefly in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as an editorial assistant before returning to Australia in 1967 to work as a solicitor, initially in partnership with

Robert Holmes à Court Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court (27 July 1937 – 2 September 1990) was a South African-born Australian businessman who became Australia's first billionaire, before dying suddenly of heart failure in 1990 at the age of 53. A great-gre ...

. He was a partner in the law firm Keall Brinsden from 1971 to 1984. While working as a barrister from 1985 to 2000 he was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988 and served as part-time President of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (WA). He was deputy chair of the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

from 1978 to 1982 and was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM). He served as Chair of the Literature Board from 1998 to 2001 and as Chair of the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 2014 to 2018.

Judicial career

On 1 May 2000, Hasluck was appointed a judge on the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of or more ...

, which is the highest ranking court in the

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 retired as a judge on 5 May 2010.

Writing career

Hasluck started writing at school, producing poetry and essays for the school magazine and was first professionally published in 1964 with a poem appearing in Westerly literary magazine. Hasluck's books fall into two categories, which he describes as "moral thriller genre and satire", with the thriller interesting him the most. He cites the American writers

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

and

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

as his main literary influences. In 2006, Hasluck became Chairperson of the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...

. He completed his term in 2011.

Awards

* 1984 - winner

The Age Book of the Year ''The Age'' Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's ''The Age'' newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival Melbourne Writer ...

Award Imaginative Writing Prize and Book of the Year ''The Bellarmine Jug'' * 1987 - shortlisted

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

for ''Truant State'' * 1991 - shortlisted

for ''The Country Without Music'' * 1991 - joint winner

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

for ''The Country Without Music'' * 1999 - shortlisted

for ''Our Man K''

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Quarantine'' (1978) * ''The Blue Guitar'' (1980) * ''The Hand That Feeds You'' (1982) * '' The Bellarmine Jug'' (1984) * ''Truant State'' (1987) * ''The Country Without Music'' (1990) * ''The Blosseville File'' (1992) * ''A Grain of Truth'' (1994) * ''Our Man K'' (1999) * ''Dismissal'' (2011) * ''Rooms in the City'' (2014) * ''The Bradshaw Case'' (2016) * ''Che's Last Embrace'' (2022)

Short story collections

* ''The Hat on the Letter 'O' and Other Stories'' (1978; revised edition 1990) * ''Wobbling the Whiteboard'' (under the pseudonym "Kim Lee") (2003)

Poetry

* ''Anchor and Other Poems'' (1976) * ''On the Edge'' (1981) * ''A Dream Divided'' (2004)

Non-fiction

* ''Chinese Journey'' (1985) (with

Christopher Koch Christopher John Koch AO (16 July 1932 – 23 September 2013) was an Australian novelist, known for his 1978 novel '' The Year of Living Dangerously'', which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film by the same name for which he co-wro ...

) * ''Collage: Recollections and Images of the University of Western Australia'' (1987), essays * ''Offcuts From a Legal Literary Life'' (1993), essays * ''The Legal Labyrinth'' (2003) * ''The Hasluck Banner '' (2006) * ''Somewhere in the Atlas: The Road to Khe Sanh and Other Travel Pieces'' (2007) * ''Legal Limits'' (2013) * ''Jigsaw: Patterns in law and literature'' (2018) *''Beyond the Equator: An Australian Memoir'' (2019) * ''Rollo's Way'' (2020)

Plays

* ''Van M'' (1990)

Articles

* * * * *

References

*Baker, Candida (1986) ''Yacker: Australian writers talk about their work'', Sydney, Picador *Daniel, Helen (1988) ''Liars: Australian New Novelists'', Melbourne, Penguin

Early life

Judicial career

Writing career

Awards

Bibliography

Novels

Short story collections

Poetry

Non-fiction

Plays

Articles

References

References

See also