David George Joseph Malouf

Early life

Malouf was born on 20 March 1934 in Brisbane, Australia, to a Lebanese Christian father and an English-born mother of Sephardi Jewish descent. His paternal family had immigrated from Lebanon in the 1880s, while his mother's family had moved to England via the Netherlands, before migrating to Australia in 1913.

Malouf attended Brisbane Grammar School and graduated from the University of Queensland with a B.A. degree in 1955. He returned to Australia in 1968, taught at his old school, and lectured in English at the Universities of Queensland and Sydney. Malouf began writing full-time in 1977. Johnno engages in shoplifting and goes to brothels, which contrasts with his friend Dante's middle-class conservatism. An Imaginary Life (1978) is about the final years of Ovid. Malouf's epic novel The Great World (1990) tells the story of two Australians and their relationship amid the turmoil of two World Wars, including imprisonment by the Japanese during World War II.

From his first novel Johnno onwards, his themes focused on "male identity and soul-searching".

Personal life and death

Malouf identified as homosexual. He lived in England and Tuscany, and for three decades spent most of his time in Sydney. He died in Gold Coast, Queensland, on 22 April 2026, aged 92.

Awards and honours

Malouf was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 1987 Australia Day Honours for services to literature.

As well as his numerous accolades for fiction, Malouf was awarded the Pascall Prize for Critical Writing in 1988. In 2008, Malouf won the Australian Publishers Association's Lloyd O'Neil Award for outstanding service to the Australian book industry. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008. He was also an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

  • 1974: Townsville Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Award, for Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems
  • 1979: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, for An Imaginary Life
  • 1985: Victorian Premier's Literary Award, for Antipodes
  • 1991: Miles Franklin Award, for The Great World
  • 1991: Commonwealth Writers Prize, Overall Best Book Award, for The Great World
  • 1991: Prix Femina Étranger, for The Great World
  • 1992: Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, National Fiction Award, for The Great World
  • 1993: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, for Remembering Babylon
  • 1994: Prix Femina Étranger, for Remembering Babylon
  • 1994: Commonwealth Writers Prize, South-East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book from the Region Award, for Remembering Babylon
  • 1994: Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, for Remembering Babylon
  • 1994: National Book Council Banjo Award for Fiction shortlist, for Remembering Babylon
  • 1995: Prix Baudelaire (France), for Remembering Babylon
  • 1996: International Dublin Literary Award, for Remembering Babylon
  • 2000: Neustadt International Prize for Literature
  • 2007: The Age Book of the Year Award for Fiction, for Every Move You Make
  • 2009: Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as an "Influential Artist", announced as part of the Q150 celebrations
  • 2009: John D. Criticos Prize for Greek literature, for Ransom
  • 2011: International Dublin Literary Award shortlist, for Ransom
  • 2011: International Booker Prize shortlist
  • 2014: Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, for Earth Hour
  • 2016: Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature

Selected bibliography

Source:

Novels

  • Johnno (1975)
  • An Imaginary Life (1978)
  • Fly Away Peter (1982)—known as The Bread of Time to Come in the U.S.
  • Child's Play (1982) - early editions included the short stories "Eustace" and "The Prowler"
  • Harland's Half Acre (1984)
  • The Great World (1990)
  • Remembering Babylon (1993)
  • The Conversations at Curlow Creek (1996)
  • Ransom (2009)

Short story collections

  • Antipodes (1985)
  • Untold Tales (1999)
  • Dream Stuff (2000)
  • Every Move You Make (2006)
  • The Complete Stories (2007)
  • Typewriter Music (2007)
  • Revolving Days: Selected Poems (2008)
  • A Spirit of Play: The Making of Australian Consciousness (1998)—the ABC Boyer Lectures
  • Made in England: Australia's British Inheritance (2003)—number 12 in Black Inc's Quarterly Essay series
  • On Experience (2008)—in Melbourne University Press's Little Books on Big Themes series

References

Further reading

  • Giffuni, Cathe. "The Prose of David Malouf", Australian & New Zealand Studies in Canada, No. 7, June 1992.
  • James, Clive. "A Memory called Malouf" New York Review, 21 December 2000.
  • David Malouf in conversation with Susan Johnson, State Library of Queensland