Elliot Perlman (born 7 May 1964) is an Australian author and barrister. He has written four novels (Three Dollars, Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Street Sweeper and Maybe the Horse Will Talk), one short story collection (The Reasons I Won't Be Coming) and a book for children.
Perlman is the son of second-generation Jewish Australians of East European descent.[1] He studied law at Monash University in Melbourne, graduating in 1989.[2] He was called to the Bar in 1997, but while working as a judge's associate in the early 1990s he started writing short stories. He lives in Melbourne.[3][4]
Writing careeredit
In 1994 he won The Age Short Story Award for "The Reasons I Won't Be Coming",[5] a short story that later gave the title to his first collection of short stories, published in 1999. In 1998, his first novel, Three Dollars, was published. It won The Age Book of the Year[3][6] and the Betty Trask Prize.[7] His second novel, Seven Types of Ambiguity, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's most prestigious literary award, in 2004.[8] Perlman's third novel, The Street Sweeper, was published in 2011. In an interview in 2001 he named Graham Greene as one of the writers who inspire him, describing Greene as "a master of beautifully crisp, clean and spare prose".[9] He has been called a post-grunge lit writer,[by whom?] a reference to his works being written following the 1990s genre of grunge lit.
Themes and styleedit
His work "condemns the economic rationalism that destroys the humanity of ordinary people when they are confronted with unemployment and poverty."[10] This is not surprising in a writer who admires Raymond Carver and Graham Greene because they "write with quite a strong moral centre and a strong sense of compassion."[9] However, he says, "Part of my task is to entertain readers. I don't want it to be propaganda at all. I don't think that for something to be political fiction it has to offer an alternative; I think just a social critique is enough."[9] He describes himself, in fact, as being interested in "the essence of humanity" and argued that exploring this often means touching on political issues.[9] Perlman often uses music, and song lyrics, in his work to convey an idea or mood, or to give a sense of who a character is. However, he recognises that this is "a bit of a risk because the less familiar the reader is with the song, the smaller the pay off."[9]
^"'Missing Marvin' wins Children's Peace Literature Award". Books+Publishing. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
December 15, 2023
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Elliot Perlman born 7 May 1964 is an Australian author and barrister He has written four novels Three Dollars Seven Types of Ambiguity The Street Sweeper and Maybe the Horse Will Talk one short story collection The Reasons I Won t Be Coming and a book for children Contents 1 Life 2 Writing career 3 Themes and style 4 Adaptations 5 Awards and nominations 6 Bibliography 6 1 Novels 6 2 Short story collection 6 3 For children 7 External links 8 ReferencesLife editPerlman is the son of second generation Jewish Australians of East European descent 1 He studied law at Monash University in Melbourne graduating in 1989 2 He was called to the Bar in 1997 but while working as a judge s associate in the early 1990s he started writing short stories He lives in Melbourne 3 4 Writing career editIn 1994 he won The Age Short Story Award for The Reasons I Won t Be Coming 5 a short story that later gave the title to his first collection of short stories published in 1999 In 1998 his first novel Three Dollars was published It won The Age Book of the Year 3 6 and the Betty Trask Prize 7 His second novel Seven Types of Ambiguity was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award Australia s most prestigious literary award in 2004 8 Perlman s third novel The Street Sweeper was published in 2011 In an interview in 2001 he named Graham Greene as one of the writers who inspire him describing Greene as a master of beautifully crisp clean and spare prose 9 He has been called a post grunge lit writer by whom a reference to his works being written following the 1990s genre of grunge lit Themes and style editHis work condemns the economic rationalism that destroys the humanity of ordinary people when they are confronted with unemployment and poverty 10 This is not surprising in a writer who admires Raymond Carver and Graham Greene because they write with quite a strong moral centre and a strong sense of compassion 9 However he says Part of my task is to entertain readers I don t want it to be propaganda at all I don t think that for something to be political fiction it has to offer an alternative I think just a social critique is enough 9 He describes himself in fact as being interested in the essence of humanity and argued that exploring this often means touching on political issues 9 Perlman often uses music and song lyrics in his work to convey an idea or mood or to give a sense of who a character is However he recognises that this is a bit of a risk because the less familiar the reader is with the song the smaller the pay off 9 Adaptations editHis novel Three Dollars was produced as a film in 2005 It was directed by Robert Connolly and starred David Wenham and Frances O Connor Perlman and Connolly jointly adapted the novel A six part series based on Seven Types of Ambiguity was screened on ABC Television in 2017 Awards and nominations edit2019 Children s Peace Literature Award shortlisted for The Adventures of Catvinkle 11 2012 Miles Franklin Award longlisted for The Street Sweeper 2005 Australian Film Institute AFI Awards Best Adapted Screenplay winner for Three Dollars 2005 Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Screenplay Adapted winner for Three Dollars 2005 AWGIE Awards Film Award Feature shortlisted for Three Dollars 2004 Commonwealth Writers Prize South East Asia and South Pacific Region Best Book shortlisted for Seven Types of Ambiguity 2004 Queensland Premier s Literary Awards Best Fiction Book shortlisted for Seven Types of Ambiguity 2004 Miles Franklin Award shortlisted for Seven Types of Ambiguity 2000 Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Australian Short Story Award joint winner for The Reasons I Won t Be Coming 1999 Betty Trask Award for Commonwealth Writers Under 35 Years winner for Three Dollars 1999 Queensland Premier s Literary Awards Best Literary Work Advancing Public Debate joint winner for Three Dollars 1999 Miles Franklin Award shortlisted for Three Dollars 1998 The Age Book of the Year Award Book of the Year winner for Three Dollars 1998 The Age Book of the Year Award Fiction Prize winner for Three Dollars 1994 The Age Short Story Award winner for The Reasons I Won t Be ComingBibliography editNovels edit Three Dollars 1998 Seven Types of Ambiguity 2003 The Street Sweeper 2011 Maybe the Horse Will Talk 2019 Short story collection edit The Reasons I Won t Be Coming 1999 For children edit The Adventures of Catvinkle illustrated by Laura Stitzel 2018 Catvinkle and the Missing Tulips illustrated by Laura Stitzel 2020 External links editPortrait of the Artist as a Young Man at barristers com au Q amp A with Elliot Perlman at the State Library of Victoria website 2012 radio interview one hour at The Bat Segundo ShowReferences edit Meet the writers Elliot Perlman Monash Law Matters 2005 06 a b Elliot J PERLMAN barristers com au Archived from the original on 2 September 2007 Retrieved 25 November 2008 Limmud Oz 2008 Festival of Jewish Learning amp Culture Elliot Perlman shalom edu au Shalom Institute 14 September 2003 Archived from the original on 21 July 2008 Retrieved 25 November 2008 Books and Writing John Mortimer amp Elliot Perlman Australian Broadcasting Corporation 14 September 2003 Retrieved 25 November 2008 Three Dollars Elliot Perlman 1998 middlemiss org Retrieved 25 November 2008 Betty Trask prize Archived 9 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine Announcing the 2004 Miles Franklin Literary Award Winner Archived 22 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine a b c d e Byrne Madeleine 2001 The world is closing in an interview with Elliot Perlman Antipodes 15 1 10 12 Perlman Elliot austlit edu au Missing Marvin wins Children s Peace Literature Award Books Publishing 12 November 2019 Retrieved 10 August 2020 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Elliot Perlman amp oldid 1162143584, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
