Tim Winton Explained

Tim Winton
Birth Name:Timothy John Winton
Birth Place:Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation:Novelist
Nationality:Australian
Period:1982–present
Genre:Literature, children's, non-fiction, short story
Notableworks:Cloudstreet
Dirt Music
Breath
Shallows
BlueBack
The Bugalugs Bum Thief

Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Franklin Award four times.

Life and career

Timothy John Winton was born on 4 August 1960[1] in Subiaco, an inner western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. He grew up in the northern Perth suburb of Karrinyup,[2] [3] before he moved with his family to the regional city of Albany at the age of 12.[4]

Whilst at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, Winton wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer, which won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 1981, launching his writing career. He has stated that he wrote "the best part of three books while at university".[5] His second book, Shallows, won the Miles Franklin Award in 1984. Winton published Cloudstreet in 1991, which properly established his writing career. He has continued to publish fiction, plays and non-fiction material.

Personal life

Winton has lived in Italy, France, Ireland and Greece,[6] but currently lives in Western Australia.[7] He met his wife Denise when they were children at school. When he was 18 and recovering from a car accident, they reconnected as she was a student nurse. They married when Winton was 21 and she was 20, and had three children together. They live in Fremantle, south of Perth.

Winton’s younger brother, Andrew Winton, is a musician and a high school chaplain. His younger sister is Sharyn O'Neill, who in 2018 became the Public Sector Commissioner of Western Australia, after 12 years as Director General of the WA Education Department.[8]

As his fame has grown, Winton has guarded his and his family's privacy. He rarely speaks in public yet he is known as "an affable, plain-speaking man of unaffected intelligence and deep emotions."[9]

Reception and honours

In 1995, Winton's The Riders was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction, as was his 2001 book, Dirt Music. Dirt Music (film) was released in 2019. He has won many other prizes, including the Miles Franklin Award a record four times: for Shallows (1984), Cloudstreet (1992), Dirt Music (2002) and Breath (2009). Cloudstreet regularly appears in lists of Australia's best-loved novels.[10]

All his books are still in print and have been published in eighteen different languages. His work has also been successfully adapted for stage, screen and radio.[11] On the publication of his novel, Dirt Music, he collaborated with broadcaster Lucky Oceans to produce a compilation CD, Dirt Music – Music for a Novel.[12]

Winton has been named a Living Treasure by the National Trust[13] and awarded the Centenary Medal for service to literature and the community.[14] In 2023, Winton was awarded the ABIA Lloyd O’Neil Award for outstanding service to the Australian book industry.[15] Curtin University has named a lecture theatre in his honour.[16]

The Tim Winton Young Writers Award, sponsored annually since 1993 by the City of Subiaco, recognises young writers in the Perth metropolitan area.[17] It is open to short story writers of primary school and secondary school age. Three compilations have been published: Destination Unknown (2001)[18] Life Bytes (2002),[19] and Hatched: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers (2013). The latter features the winning story from each year of the award from 1993 to 2012.[20] Winton is the patron of the competition.

Winton was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "distinguished service to literature as an author and novelist, to conservation, and to environmental advocacy".[21]

Style and themes

Winton draws his prime inspiration from landscape and place, mostly coastal Western Australia. He has said "The place comes first. If the place isn't interesting to me then I can't feel it. I can't feel any people in it. I can't feel what the people are on about or likely to get up to."[22]

Dr Jules Smith for the British Council wrote about Winton,

"His books are boisterous and lyrical by turns, warm-hearted in their depictions of family life but with characters that often have to be in extremis in order to find themselves. They have a wonderful feeling for the strange beauty of Australia; are frequently flavoured with Aussie vernacular expressions, and a good deal of emotional directness. They question macho role models (his books are full of strong women and troubled men) and are prepared to risk their realist credibility with enigmatic, even visionary endings."[23]

Winton revisits place and, occasionally, characters from one book to another. Queenie Cookson, for example, is a character in Breath who also appears in Shallows, Minimum of Two and in two of the Lockie Leonard books.

Environmental advocacy

Winton is actively involved in the Australian environmental movement. He is a patron of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and is involved in many of their campaigns, notably their work in raising awareness about sustainable seafood consumption.[24] He is a patron of the Stop the Toad Foundation and contributed to the whaling debate with an article on the Last Whale website.[25] He is also a prominent advocate of the Save Moreton Bay organisation, the Environment Defender's Office, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and the Marine Conservation Society, with which he is campaigning against shark finning.[26]

In 2003, Winton was awarded the inaugural Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Medal in recognition for his work in the campaign to save the Ningaloo Reef.

Winton keeps away from the public eye, unless promoting a new book or supporting an environmental issue. He told reviewer Jason Steger "Occasionally they wheel me out for green advocacy stuff but that's the only kind of stuff I put my head up for."[27]

In 2016, species of fish from the Kimberley region was named after him.[28]

In March 2017, Winton was named patron of the newly established Native Australian Animals Trust.[29] He has always featured the environment and the Australian landscape in his writings. The trust was established to help research and teaching about native animals and their environment. Associate Professor Tim Dempster, School of Biosciences is quoted as saying, "Australia has a unique and charismatic animal fauna, but our state of knowledge about it is poor. Indeed species can go extinct before we even know of their existence. We have much to learn from our fauna, and a pressing need to do so."[30]

In 2023, a mini documentary series was released by the ABC called Ningaloo Nyinggulu, which he was the presenter for.

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction

Collections
Stories[31]
width=25%TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedNotes
Abbreviation2003"Abbreviation"/"Ten viet tat", Truyen ngan Uc/Australian Short Stories, Rose Moxham (ed), Trinh Lu (translator), Hoi Nhaa Van, 2005
Aquifer2000Winton, Tim . Summer 2000 . Aquifer . Granta . 70 . 39–52. The Beacon Best of 2001, Junot Diaz (ed), Beacon Press, 2001
Big world2004Journeys: Modern Australian Short Stories, Barry Oakley (ed), Five Mile Press, 2007
Cockleshell2004"Cockleshell", Harvard Review, No. 27, Christina Thompson (ed), 2004
Small mercies2006Novella

Plays

Children's books

Non-fiction

Dramatisations

Adaptations

Critical studies and reviews of Winton's work

Awards and nominations

Full list of awards and nominations:

An Open Swimmer

Shallows

Scission and Other Stories

Minimum of Two and Other Stories

Jesse (picture book)

Cloudstreet

Related to Cloudstreet

Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo

Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster

The Bugalugs Bum Thief

The Riders

Blueback

Lockie Leonard, Legend

Dirt Music

The Turning

Breath

Eyrie

Island Home : A Landscape Memoir

The Boy Behind the Curtain

The Shepherd's Hut

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tim Winton . Britannica. 4 October 2023 .
  2. News: Births . . 5 August 1960 . 44.
  3. Web site: Tim Winton (Author profile), Jenny Darling & Associates. 2007-11-10. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20071206125549/http://jd-associates.com.au/authors/author/tim-winton. 6 December 2007.
  4. Steger, Jason (2008) "It's a risky business", The Sydney Morning Herald, 25–27 April 2008, Books: p. 29
  5. Steger, Jason (2008) "Its a risky business" in The Sydney Morning Herald, 25–27 April 2008, Books p. 28
  6. Web site: Waiting for the mew wave - Interview 28 June 2008. 16 January 2017. The Guardian. 27 June 2008.
  7. Web site: The Boy Behind the Curtain - From guns to words 15 October 2016. 10 February 2017. NZ Herald.
  8. Web site: Sharyn O'Neill. 31 December 2022. Government of Western Australia.
  9. Web site: Tim Winton : Into the Blue: Murray Waldren (first published in The Weekend Australian.). 3 February 2017. Literary Liaisons.
  10. http://www.abc.net.au/radio/book/default.htm "Your Favourite Australian Book poll"
  11. http://jennydarling.com.au/authors/tim-winton-2 Tim Winton (Author profile), Jenny Darling & Associates
  12. Web site: Dirt Music: Music for a Novel By Tim Winton. Discogs. 16 January 2017.
  13. http://www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/treasureslist.html Living Treasures list, National Trust website
  14. Web site: Winton, Tim Centenary Medal. 16 January 2017. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
  15. Web site: Young . Emma . 8 May 2023 . Why Tim Winton is happy he never moved to Melbourne . 16 May 2023 . WAtoday . en.
  16. Web site: Curtin honours graduate Tim Winton with lecture theatre tribute - News and Events | Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia. 2 November 2009.
  17. Web site: Tim Winton Award for Young Writers . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318124952/http://www.subiaco.wa.gov.au/template.asp?navSelect=15&mainNavID=15&pageRecID=35 . 18 March 2012 . 29 February 2012 . City of Subiaco.
  18. Web site: Destination unknown / edited by Alwyn Evans ; foreword Tim Winton. . 16 January 2017 . National Library of Australia.
  19. Web site: Life bytes / edited by Alwyn Evans. . 16 January 2017 . National Library of Australia.
  20. Web site: Tim Winton Award for Young Writers - Publications 2016 . 16 January 2017 . City of Subiaco.
  21. Web site: King's Birthday 2023 Honours - the full list . Sydney Morning Herald . Nine Entertainment Co . 11 June 2023 . 11 June 2023.
  22. State Library of Western Australia. 23 January 2017.
  23. Web site: Critical Perspective Dr Jules Smith 2003. Literature British Council. 6 February 2017.
  24. http://www.amcs.org.au/default2.asp?active_page_id=137 AMCS Sustainable Seafood Guide
  25. http://thelastwhale.blogspot.com/2007/11/no-humane-way-to-kill-whale-tim-winton.html "I like men"
  26. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/For-the-love-of-sharks.htm/ "For the love of sharks"
  27. cited by Steger, Jason (2008) "It's a risky business" in The Sydney Morning Herald, 25–27 April 2008, Books p. 28
  28. Web site: 'A great honour': New fish species named after author Tim Winton. ABC News. 4 January 2016. 2016-01-04. en-AU.
  29. Web site: Native Australian Animals Trust. University of Melbourne. 16 March 2017.
  30. Web site: Native Australian Animals Trust. University of Melbourne. 16 March 2017.
  31. Short stories unless otherwise noted.
  32. Web site: That Eye, The Sky. Aussie Theatre. 17 February 2017.
  33. Web site: Cloudstreet's Adaptations. Austlit. 18 February 2017.
  34. Web site: AusStage. AusStage. 17 February 2017.
  35. Web site: Lockie Leonard Human Torpedo. Australian Plays. 18 February 2017.
  36. Web site: Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster. AusStage. 17 February 2017.
  37. Web site: The Bugalugs Bum Thief. Sydney Morning Herald 6 April 2009. 6 April 2009. 18 February 2017.
  38. Web site: The Bugalugs Bum Thief (National Tours). monkey baa theatre company. 18 February 2017.
  39. Web site: The Deep First Performance 2001. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. 18 February 2017.
  40. Web site: Blueback. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. 18 February 2017.
  41. Web site: The Turning Perth Theatre Company. Australian Stage. 18 February 2017.
  42. Web site: That Eye, the Sky (1994). Australian Screen. 18 February 2017.
  43. Web site: In the Winter Dark. IMDb. 18 February 2017.
  44. Web site: Lockie Leonard. IMDb. 18 February 2017.
  45. Web site: The Water Was Dark and It Went Forever. IMDb. 18 February 2017.
  46. Web site: Cloudstreet. IMDb. 18 February 2017.
  47. Web site: The Turning. IMDb. 18 February 2017.
  48. Web site: Mem: 10125520 . Winton's 'The Riders' to be adapted for film Books+Publishing . 2023-04-23 . en-AU.
  49. Web site: The Riders Review (Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne) 25 September 2014. Daily Review. 25 September 2014 . 18 February 2017.
  50. Web site: Review: Cloudstreet (State Opera of South Australia). Limelight Magazine. 18 February 2017.
  51. Web site: Elizabeth Debicki, Richard Roxburgh join cast of Simon Baker's film Breath 12 April 2016. The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 April 2016. 18 February 2017.
  52. Web site: Dirt Music trailer: Director Gregor Jordan on Tim Winton's book, casting non-Australians 21 May 2020. News.com.au. 23 May 2020.
  53. Web site: megfunston . 2022-07-07 . Blueback: Tim Winton film adaptation – trailer . 2022-09-19 . ScreenHub Australia . en-AU.
  54. Web site: Under the Influence. Workers Online. 16 January 2017.
  55. Web site: Fully formed: 30 years of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award 23 January 2011. The Australian. 12 March 2017.
  56. Web site: Miles Franklin Literary Award – Every Winner Since 1957. Better Reading. 16 January 2017.
  57. Web site: Tim Winton Author Bio. Booktopia. 16 January 2017.
  58. Web site: AWGIE Stage Award. Australian Plays Organization. 23 January 2017.
  59. Web site: Past Nominees and Winners 2002. Helpmann Awards. 23 January 2017.
  60. Web site: Shortlist 1995. Man Booker Prize. 16 January 2017.
  61. Web site: Shortlist 2002. Man Booker Prize. 16 January 2017.
  62. Web site: Personal Awards for Works. Austlit. 13 January 2017.
  63. Web site: Winton wins 2019 Voss Literary Prize for 'The Shepherd's Hut'. 10 December 2019. Books+Publishing. en-AU. 2019-12-19.
  64. Perkins. Cathy. Summer 2019. Excellence in Literature and History. SL Magazine. 12. 4. 52–55.

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