Peter Carey

Peter Carey was born in Bacchus Marsh in Victoria in 1943, and was later educated at Monash University, where he studied science. His early contact with the writers Barry Oakley and Morris Lurie turned him towards writing and advertising and he supported himself by writing advertising copy during the early part of his literary career (a trait he shares with Salman Rushdie). Carey moved from Melbourne to London and then to Sydney before taking up residence in New York in the late 80s where he teaches creative writing at New York University. His first three novels were all received to much acclaim though his fourth, The Tax Inspector, received more than its fair share of criticism . Illywhacker was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1985 and Oscar and Lucinda won the award in 1988. Carey has also been successful on the prize front in Australia with Bliss, Oscar and Lucinda and Jack Maggs all winning the Miles Franklin Award. His novel True History of the Kelly Gang was shortlisted for the 2001 Miles Franklin Award, and My Life as a Fake was shortlisted for the 2004 Award. Illywhacker, The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith and Jack Maggs all won The Age Book of the Year Award. Although not considered a science fiction writer as such, Carey utilises some elements in his writing which have caught the eye of a number of science fiction readers in Australia and around the world. Illywhacker won the Ditmar Award for Best Australian Science Fiction Novel in 1986 and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in the same year. In May 1998, it was announced that Jack Maggs had won the 1998 Commonwealth Writers Prize. As a result of this Carey appeared to get himself a bit of hot water due to him declining an invitation to meet the Queen - a standard invitation issued to all winners of the award. Carey cited family and personal reasons for his decision. Peter Carey won the Miles Franklin Award for the third time with Jack Maggs. In 2001, Carey's novel True History of the Kelly Gang was shortlisted for the 2001 Miles Franklin Award - though it didn't win. It did, however, win the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize, and the 2001 Man Booker Prize, making Carey only the second author, after J.M. Coetzee, to win the Man Booker prize twice.