Richard Flanagan

Born in Tasmania in 1961, Richard Flanagan is a novelist, historian and film director. He left school aged 16, later winning a Rhodes scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford University, where he took a Master of Letters degree. He is the author of several history books and other works of non-fiction, while his novels include Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping (a film adaptation was directed by Flanagan himself), Gould’s Book of Fish, The Unknown Terrorist, Wanting and First Person. They have received numerous honours and are published in over 40 countries.

Flanagan, who has worked as a labourer and river guide, is also an award-winning journalist, on subjects including politics and the environment, and is an ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, to which he donated his $40,000 prize money after being awarded the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Prize in 2014.