Peter Doyle (born 1951) is an Australian author, musician, visual artist, and exhibition curator. He is an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature at
Macquarie University
Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...
, and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Crime Writers Association of Australia.
Biography
Peter Doyle was born in
Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales, and grew up in Sydney's eastern suburbs, which provide much of the setting for his fiction work.
He has a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
(Communications) from
UTS and a
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in Media and Mass Communications on the renderings of virtual space in early popular music recording from
Macquarie University
Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...
(2002). He also maintains a research interest in
comics
a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
and the
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
, the history of twentieth century
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
, as well as
crime writing, both in Australia, and overseas.
He worked variously as a taxi driver, musician, and teacher prior to publishing his first novel, ''
Get Rich Quick'', in 1996, which won Australia's prestigious
Ned Kelly Award
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
True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including d ...
for Best First Crime Novel in 1997. He followed this with a successful sequel, ''
Amaze Your Friends
''Amaze Your Friends'' is a 1998 Ned Kelly Award-winning novel by Australian author Peter Doyle.
This is book 2 in the author's Billy Glasheen series of novels.
Synopsis
Set in Sydney in the 1950s this novel follows Billy Glasheen as he atte ...
'', which won the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel in 1998. His third novel, ''
The Devil's Jump'', released in 2001, was a prequel, set in Sydney in the closing days of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. A fourth title, ''The Big Whatever'' (2015), follows the exploits of anti-hero Billy Glasheen into the 1970s and, like its predecessors, presents an alternative history of the overlaps between the entertainment business and crime.
Doyle's curatorial work at the Sydney
Justice and Police Museum
The Justice and Police Museum is a heritage-listed former water police station, offices and courthouse and now justice and police museum located at 4-8 Phillip Street on the corner of Albert Street, in the Sydney central business district in th ...
saw him curate two major exhibitions, ''Crimes of Passion'' (2002–2003), and ''City of Shadows: Inner City Crime and Mayhem, 1912-1948'' (November 2005-February 2007), both of which were social histories of inner-city twentieth century Sydney based on rediscovered crime scene photography from the period. The book which accompanied the second exhibition, ''City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948'' (2005) drew global attention to the huge but hitherto little explored Forensic Photography Archive (FPA) held at the Justice and Police Museum.
Further research into 1920s-era
mug shot
A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a Portrait photography, photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is placed under arrest. The primary purpose ...
s held at the Justice and Police Museum led to Doyle's book ''Crooks Like Us'' (2009) which would inform production and styling for the British television series, ''Peaky Blinders'', as well as ''Bad Boys,'' a line of clothing by fashion designer
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for founding the brand Ralph Lauren (brand), Ralph Lauren, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He stepped do ...
(2011).
In 2013-14 Doyle curated the exhibition ''Suburban Noir'' at the
Museum of Sydney
The Museum of Sydney (MOS) is a historical collection and exhibit, built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales' first Governor, Arthur Phillip, on the present-day corner of Phillip and Bridge Street, Sydney.
Description
The museum is ...
, combining forensic photographs of the 1950s and 60s with original works by a range of local and overseas artists. In 2015 he curated the exhibition ''Pulp Confidential: Quick & Dirty Publishing from the 40s & 50s'' at the
State Library of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...
, which showcased manuscripts, correspondence and artwork relating to
Frank Johnson Publications, a Sydney-based pulp publisher from the 1940s and 1950s.
Peter Doyle is a noted slide and steel guitarist in the Sydney blues, rockabilly, country and pub rock scenes; his interest in music is also a strong influence in his fiction writing.
Awards
*2010 Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Crime Writers Association.
*2006 National Trust/Energy Australia Heritage Award, Interpretation and Presentation (for ''City of Shadows'')
*2006 Association of Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) award for Best Research in Record Labels and General History.
*Winner, 1999
Ned Kelly Award
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
True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including d ...
Best Crime Novel for ''Amaze Your Friends''
*Co-winner, 1997
Ned Kelly Award
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
True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including d ...
for Best First Crime Novel for ''Get Rich Quick''
Works
Novels
* New edition: Portland, Oregon: Dark Passage/Verse Chorus Press. 2011. ISBN 9781891241246.
* New edition: Portland, Oregon: Dark Passage/Verse Chorus Press. 2019. ISBN 9781891241345.
* New edition: Portland, Oregon: Dark Passage/Verse Chorus Press. 2008. ISBN 9781891241208.
*
Short fiction
* 'Cold War, Hot Dogs,' chapbook, with artwork by Rhett Brewer. 2011. rhettbrewer.com.au
* 'Good Bloke, in
Non-fiction
*
*
*
*
Articles and Essays
*‘Passage: Peter Doyle on Life Behind the Wheel,’ ''Sydney Review of Books'', 11 September 2022.
*‘The Record That Listens to Itself,’ ''Maggot Brain'', no. 6 (Sep. 2021), p. 40-45.
*‘Reading the Police File: Interiority and the Forensic Artefact,’ ''Life Writing'' 17:4 (2020), p. 523-538.
*‘The Last Boogie-Woogie,’ ''Sydney Review of Books'', 23 Feb. 2020
* 'Writing Sound: Popular music in Australian Fiction,' ''Altitude'', Issue 8, 2007.
* 'Signs and Wonders: Little Richard in Australia, 1957,' ''
Meanjin
''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...
'', Vol.65, No.3, 2006.
Doyle has written feature articles, reviews and short pieces for ''
The Bulletin'', ''HQ'' and ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
''. He has also been a columnist for ''Max'' and ''Sydney City Hub''.
Exhibitions
Art exhibition
*''Suburban Noir''. Rogue PopUp, November 2022.
Curated exhibitions
*2004: ''Crimes of Passion''. Justice and Police Museum, Sydney.
*2005–2008, 2013–present: ''City of Shadows''. Justice and Police Museum, Sydney
*2013–2014: ''Suburban Noir''. Museum of Sydney.
Audio-visual
*2018 ‘Slasher Patrol: the Prowler Who Shook 1950s Sydney,’ ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''.
*2013 'Suburban Noir,' Museums of History NSW.
'Suburban Noir' (video)
Museums of History New South Wales, accessed 22 Nov 2024.
References
External links
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*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Peter
1951 births
Australian crime writers
Australian educators
Australian taxi drivers
Writers from Sydney
Living people
Ned Kelly Award winners