Peter Carey

Peter Carey, born in 1943, is an Australian novelist who has achieved significant international recognition, including two Booker Prizes. He won his first in 1988 for "Oscar and Lucinda" and his second in 2001 for "True History of the Kelly Gang." Carey has also received the Miles Franklin Award multiple times and is often mentioned as a potential Nobel Prize in Literature candidate.

Carey's career began in advertising, where he encountered influential writers who shaped his literary education. Despite early unpublished novels and short stories, his first published collection, "The Fat Man in History," appeared in 1974. He later moved to Queensland, co-founded an advertising agency, and continued writing, with "Oscar and Lucinda" marking a pivotal moment in his career, bringing him international acclaim. He has lived in New York for over three decades, teaching creative writing and continuing to publish novels, many of which are set in Australia, exploring its history and culture.

Peter Carey is a distinguished Australian novelist celebrated for his significant contributions to literature, evidenced by his two Booker Prize wins in 1988 for "Oscar and Lucinda" and 2001 for "True History of the Kelly Gang." He is one of a select group of authors to achieve this twice. His work has also earned him the Miles Franklin Award on three occasions, solidifying his status as a prominent voice in Australian letters. Carey has frequently been cited as a potential recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His narrative style often delves into Australian identity, history, and the complex relationship between Australia and other nations, particularly America, though he primarily sets his fiction within his native landscape, drawing on its rich cultural and historical tapestry.

Born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, in 1943, Peter Carey's early life included attending Geelong Grammar School and a brief period studying science at Monash University. His career path took an unexpected turn when he entered the advertising industry in 1962. This period proved formative, exposing him to prominent writers and a wide range of contemporary fiction from Europe and America. Authors like Samuel Beckett, William Faulkner, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, and Gabriel García Márquez significantly influenced his reading and early writing attempts. Despite writing several unpublished novels and short stories during the 1960s, his first published works were short stories and an extract from an unpublished novel, appearing in anthologies and literary journals.

Carey's breakthrough into published fiction began in the 1970s with short stories collected in "The Fat Man in History" (1974), followed by "War Crimes" (1979) and his first novel, "Bliss" (1981). His move to Bellingen in northern New South Wales inspired "Illywhacker" (1985). The publication of "Oscar and Lucinda" in 1988 marked a turning point, earning him the Booker Prize and international acclaim. This novel, partly inspired by his observations of the Australian landscape and its history, demonstrated his ability to weave imaginative narratives with historical and cultural themes. In 1990, he relocated to New York City, where he continued his writing career and taught creative writing, although his fiction remained predominantly focused on Australian settings.

Following his move to New York, Carey published "The Tax Inspector" (1991) and "The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith" (1994), the latter exploring the complex relationship between Australia and America. While he has considered writing novels set in America, he has often found himself returning to Australian themes, citing a student's observation that living abroad can limit one's "peripheral vision" regarding their homeland. This perspective allows him to engage deeply with Australia's history and narratives. His novel "Parrot and Olivier in America" (2010) marked a more direct engagement with American themes, inspired by Alexis de Tocqueville, and "The Chemistry of Tears" (2012) blended contemporary London with 19th-century German folklore, showcasing his expanding narrative scope.

“I didn't really start getting an education until I worked in advertising with people like Barry Oakley and Morris Lurie — and Bruce Petty had an office next door.”

“to whom I owe an enormous debt — almost my life as a writer”

“I was living in Bellingen in the country. And the little church was down the road, and they wanted to take it away, zip: and I looked at that landscape and I thought – only 200 years ago this was a landscape that was full of Aboriginal stories. So I thought about a moment when that church that I knew, which was being removed from my landscape, might have arrived. I wanted it to arrive intact, whole. And I thought it would come on a barge. And, this is a totally irrational thought, it’s like a dream. I wanted this church, a wooden church, just what I saw, a church in that valley, to come along the Bellingen River on a barge gliding like a dream into the landscape.”

“When you change countries you lose your peripheral vision.”

“Tocqueville opened a door I could enter. I saw the present in the past. It was accessible, imaginable.”