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Murray Bail Murray Bail i(A7391 works by)
Born: Established: 1941 Adelaide, South Australia, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Murray Bail was born and educated in Adelaide. In 1968 he travelled to India where he lived until 1970. He then moved to England and Europe for four years, writing for the Transatlantic Review and the Times Literary Supplement. In England he added to the many short stories he had written for the Australian periodical, Westerly, and published his first collection of short stories in 1975. The absurd and surreal stories in this collection were well received, establishing the reputation that Bail would build on in the following years with several prestigious awards.

Bail's first published novel, Homesickness, a satire of the 'package tour', won the National Book Council Award in 1980, consolidating his growing reputation. Since then, Bail has published criticism, travel writing, short stories, novels and has edited a collection of essays on the artist, Ian Fairweather. The latter reflects his interest in the visual arts, an interest that placed him in the role of of trustee for the Australian National Gallery for five years.

In 1999 Bail's novel, Eucalyptus, won a number of prizes, including the Miles Franklin Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, indicating the strength of his repuation in Australia and overseas. This novel, often described as a modern fairy tale, continues Bail's exploration of the social fabric of Australian culture, and contains many of the absurd and surreal elements of his earlier fiction.

Exhibitions

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Bail has been involved in the production of videorecordings, retrospective examinations and tributes to several Australian artists.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Voyage Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2012 Z1889738 2012 single work novel 'Frank Delage, piano manufacturer from Sydney, travels to Vienna, a city immersed in music, to present the Delage concert grand. He hopes to impress with its technical precision, its improvement on the old pianos of Europe.

'How could he not know his piano is all wrong for Vienna? Perhaps he should have tried Berlin. But a chance meeting with Amalia von Schalla brings new possibilities for Delage—connections, her daughter Elisabeth, and an avant garde composer. Now travelling home, on a container ship, with Elisabeth, the real story is about to begin.' (From the publisher's website.)
2013 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards Fiction Book Award
2014 longlisted International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
2013 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Fiction
2013 winner APA Book Design Awards Designers’ Choice Cover of the Year designed by W.H. Chong.
2013 winner APA Book Design Awards Best Designed Literary Fiction Book designed by W.H. Chong.
2013 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
y separately published work icon The Pages Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2008 Z1510310 2008 single work novel

'On a family sheep station in western New South Wales, a brother and sister work the property while their reclusive brother, Wesley Antill, spends years toiling away in one of the sheds, writing his philosophy.

'Now he has died. Erica, a philosopher, is sent from Sydney to appraise his life's work. Accompanying her is Sophie, who needs distracting from a string of failed relationships. Her field is psychoanalysis.

'The pages Wesley wrote lie untouched in the shed, just as he left them. What will they reveal? Was he a genius? These turn out to be only a couple of the questions in the air. How will the visit change the lives of Erica and Sophie?' (Publisher's blurb)

2009 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards Fiction
2009 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
2009 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
y separately published work icon Eucalyptus : A Novel Melbourne : Text Publishing , 1998 Z279634 1998 single work novel (taught in 8 units)

Holland lived with his only daughter, Ellen, by a khaki river four hours west of Sydney. In spite of their remote location, tales of Ellen's beauty had traveled long distances and in the process inscribed a small legend. But Ellen's desirability was Holland's blindspot and finally he decided that the man who correctly named every eucalypt on his property would win the hand of his daughter. (Source: Trove)

2010 shortlisted Australian Book Review Fan Poll
1999 winner ASAL Awards ALS Gold Medal
1999 winner Miles Franklin Literary Award
1999 winner Commonwealth Writers Prize Overall Best Book Award
1999 winner Commonwealth Writers Prize South-East Asia and South Pacific Region Best Book from the Region Award
Last amended 24 Jun 2013 08:53:31
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