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Philip McLaren

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philip McLaren (born 1943) is an Aboriginal Australian author and academic known for literary fiction, detective stories and thrillers.

Biography

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McLaren is an Aboriginal Australian of the Kamilaroi people. Both of his parents, who have some Scottish heritage, are from Coonabarabran, New South Wales.[1] He was born in Redfern, Sydney.[2]

He holds a Doctor of Creative Arts degree.[3]

He has worked in a range of occupations, including as an illustrator, designer, animator, sculptor, copywriter and creative director in television, advertising and film production companies. Over a period of 12 years he lived and worked in Canada, USA, England, New Zealand and the Bahamas.[2]

He has delivered lectures or readings at a range of institutions and festivals across the world, including the University of Alberta in Canada; the University of Sydney; National Library of Australia; State Library of New South Wales; Melbourne Writers Festival; Adelaide Writers' Week; Sydney Writers' Festival; Byron Bay Writers Festival; New Zealand's inaugural Toi Maori Festival; and was invited by the Goethe-Institut to speak at their inaugural Writers’ Festival at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.[4]

McLaren was a member of the working party involved in the creation of the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) in 2012.[5]

He has worked as a lecturer at Southern Cross University.[2][3]

He lived in the Byron Bay area of New South Wales as of 2009.[2]

Writing career

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McLaren is known for literary fiction, detective stories and thrillers. He has also written non-fiction, social commentary, screenplays and academic essays.[6] Four of his novels have been translated and distributed internationally.[7]

Awards

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Books

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  • Sweet Water – Stolen Land (University of Queensland Press, 1993) – historical fiction
  • Scream Black Murder (HarperCollins, 1995) – crime fiction[10]
  • Lightning Mine (HarperCollins, 1999) – thriller
  • There’ll be New Dreams (Magabala Books, 2001) – historical fiction
  • Murder in Utopia
  • West of Eden

References

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  1. ^ "About". Philip McLaren. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Philip McLaren". Melbourne Writers Festival. 2009. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Philip McLaren". AustLit. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Author profile: Philip McLaren". Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature Project. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  5. ^ Reed-Gilbert, Kerry (13 July 2018). "A short history of the First Nations Australia Writers Network". Overland literary journal. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  6. ^ Ramsland, John; Marie Ramsland (2012). "Arthur Upfield and Philip McLaren: Pioneering Partners in Australian Ethnographic Crime Fiction". In Jean Anderson; Carolina Miranda; Barbara Pezzotti (eds.). The Foreign in International Crime Fiction: Transcultural Representations. Bloomsbury. pp. 99ff. ISBN 9781441177032.
  7. ^ a b Heiss, Anita (2003). To Talk Straight: Publishing Indigenous Literature. Aboriginal Studies Press. p. 148. ISBN 9780855754440.
  8. ^ The West Australian (25 March 2010). "Utopia wins French prize". The West Australian. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Le prix "Récit de l'Ailleurs" fête ses 10 ans – Saint-Pierre et Miquelon la 1ère". Saint-Pierre et Miquelon la 1ère (in French). 22 January 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  10. ^ Tony Smith (2002), "Keeper of Dreams: review — Review of Scream Black Murder Philip McLaren 1995 novel ; There'll be New Dreams Philip McLaren 2001 novel", Australian Book Review, issue 238

Further reading

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