AustLit

'Michael Thorley is a Canberra poet who published an impressive book of poems,Sleeping Alone, in 2008 and who expects to publish a second shortly. His plans to publish another book of poems last year were set aside  by the illness and death of his younger brother, for whom he was caregiver. He was born in Tamworth NSW in 1945 and was educated there through high school, going on to study piano and musical education at Newcastle Conservatorium of Music. He was conscripted for two years in 1966 during then Vietnam War but was not sent overseas. In 1968 he commenced an arts degree at Sydney University, graduating in 1972 with honours in psychology. He worked first as a school counselor, then as a district guidance officer in Queanbeyan, which borders Canberra. He and his partner, Pam SIoan lived there for twenty years until her death in 2000.' (Introduction)

'Australian texts are rarely included in syllabi on North American College campuses. Perhaps the only Australian writer who is well known outside Australia is Patrick White, the only Australian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Unfortunately, the variety and depth of Australian literature remains a well-kept secret but it is certainly worth closer consideration, expecially when faculty members are choosing texts in liberal arts or "great books"-type programs. One Australian novel, worth considering for general education courses in world literature or composition is Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang (2000), which won the Booker Prize in 2001. Three reasons make this novel worth studying: First, Carey's focus on the bushranger, or outlaw, Ned Kelly, who is an iconic Australian figure, reveals key insights into Australian culture. Second, True History of the Kelly Gang deals with universal issues, which are relevant, challenging, and timely for today's students, and third, Carey's experimental approach to language use in this novel is so striking' and unusual that North American students would have difficulty finding anything comparable elsewhere.' (Introduction)