Matthew Condon
Encyclopedia
Biography
Educated at the University of QueenslandUniversity of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
and the Goethe Institute, Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, he is the author of ten novels and short story collections, including The Lulu Magnet, A Night at the Pink Poodle, The Motorcycle Cafe, The Pillow Fight and, most recently, The Trout Opera, an epic novel that took him more than ten years to write and examines the Australian character through its chief protagonist, Wilfred Lampe, a rabbiter and farm hand who spends his entire life in the township of Dalgety, on the banks of the Snowy River. The Sydney Daily Telegraph described the novel as "an instant classic". The novel will be published by Doubleday in the UK in 2009.
Condon, who now writes for The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
and is the father of two children, is based in Brisbane, Australia.
Novels
- The Motorcycle Cafe, 1988
- Usher, 1991
- The Ancient Guild of Tycoons, 1994
- A Night at the Pink Poodle, 1995
- The Pillow Fight, 1998
- Lime Bar, 2001
- The Trout Opera, 2007
- Mulligan: On Being a Hack Golfer, 2007
Awards and nominations
- New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
, Fiction, 1989: shortlisted for The Motorcycle Cafe - NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1992: shortlisted for Usher
- NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1995: shortlisted for The Ancient Guild of Tycoons
- Aurealis Award for best fantasy short storyAurealis Award for best fantasy short storyThe Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and SpecFaction NSW to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers"...
, 1996: shortlisted for "Tattoo" - Warana Writers' Awards, Steele Rudd Award, 1996: winner for A Night at the Pink Poodle
- Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Australian Short Story Award, 1997: joint winner for The Lulu Magnet
- New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2008: shortlisted for The Trout Opera - Queensland Premier's Literary AwardsQueensland Premier's Literary AwardsThe Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were inaugurated in 1999 and have grown to become a leading literary awards program within Australia, with $225,000 in prizemoney over 14 categories. One of Australia's richest prizes, top categories offer up to $25,000 for 1st prize.-Fiction Book...
, Best Fiction Book, 2008: shortlisted for The Trout Opera - Australia-Asia Literary AwardAustralia-Asia Literary AwardAustralia-Asia Literary Award was an initiative of the Government of Western Australia Department of Culture and the Arts. It was one of the richest literary prizes in the region, indeed the world, with a purse of A$110,000. The Award was established in 2007. The first and only winner was...
, 2008: longlisted