Occupation Novelist Role Novelist | Name David Ireland Nationality Australian | |
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Books The Glass Canoe, The Unknown Industrial Prisoner, A Woman of the Future, ?The Flesheaters | ||
David Neil Ireland (born 24 August 1927) is an Australian novelist.
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Biography
David Ireland was born in Lakemba in New South Wales in 1927.
Before taking up full-time writing in 1973 he undertook the classic writer's apprenticeship by working in a variety of jobs ranging from greenkeeper to an extended period in an oil refinery.
This latter job provided the inspiration for his second (and best-known) novel, The Unknown Industrial Prisoner, which brought him recognition in the early 1970s and which is still considered by many critics to be one of the best and most original Australian novels of the period.
He won the Miles Franklin Award three times (1971, 1976 and 1979). He is one of only four Australian writers to win the Award more than twice; the others are Thea Astley and Tim Winton (4), and Peter Carey (3).
Honours and awards
He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 1981.