Famous Novelists from Australia

Reference
Updated October 14, 2018293 items

List of notable or famous novelists from Australia, with bios and photos, including the top novelists born in Australia and even some popular novelists who immigrated to Australia. If you're trying to find out the names of famous Australian novelists then this list is the perfect resource for you. These novelists are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known novelist from Australia is included when available.

List is made up of many different people, including Nick Cave and Clive James.

This historic novelists from Australia list can help answer the questions "Who are some Australian novelists of note?" and "Who are the most famous novelists from Australia?" These prominent novelists of Australia may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected Australian novelists.

Use this list of renowned Australian novelists to discover some new novelists that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}
Ranked by
  • Clive James
    • Birthplace: Kogarah, Australia
    Clive James (born 7 October 1939) is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1962.
  • Nick Cave

    Nick Cave

    Age: 66
    • Birthplace: Warracknabeal, Australia
    Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor, best known for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, his baritone voice and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.Born and raised in rural Victoria, Cave studied art before fronting The Birthday Party, one of Melbourne's leading post-punk bands, in the late 1970s. They relocated to London in 1980, but, disillusioned by life there, evolved towards a darker, more challenging sound, and acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world". The Birthday Party is regarded as a major influence on gothic rock, and Cave, with his shock of black hair and pale, emaciated look, became an unwilling poster boy for the genre. Soon after the band's break-up in 1983, Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Much of the band's early material was set in a mythic American Deep South, drawing on spirituals and Delta blues, while Cave's preoccupation with Old Testament notions of good versus evil culminated in what has been called his signature song, "The Mercy Seat" (1988). The 1990s saw Cave achieve greater commercial success with quieter, piano-driven ballads, notably the Kylie Minogue duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (1996), and "Into My Arms" (1997). More recent releases, including the band's 16th and latest LP, Skeleton Tree (2016), feature increasingly abstract lyrics from Cave, as well as elements of ambient and electronic music. Grinderman, Cave's garage rock side project, has released two albums since 2006. Cave co-wrote, scored and starred in the 1988 Australian prison film Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988), directed by John Hillcoat. He also wrote the screenplay for Hillcoat's bushranger film The Proposition (2005), and composed the soundtrack with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. The pair's film score credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Road (2009), Lawless (2012), and Hell or High Water (2016). Cave is the subject of several films, including the semi-fictional "day in the life" 20,000 Days on Earth (2014), and the documentary One More Time with Feeling (2016). Cave has also released two novels: And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989) and The Death of Bunny Munro (2009). Cave's songs have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Johnny Cash ("The Mercy Seat"), Metallica ("Loverman") and Arctic Monkeys ("Red Right Hand"). He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007, and named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2017.
  • Christos Tsiolkas
    • Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia
    Christos Tsiolkas (born 1965) is an Australian author.
  • Dorothy Hewett

    Dorothy Hewett

    Dec. at 79 (1923-2002)
    • Birthplace: Perth, Australia
    Dorothy Coade Hewett (21 May 1923 – 25 August 2002) was an Australian feminist poet, novelist and playwright. She has been called "one of Australia's best-loved and most respected writers". She was also a member of the Communist Party for a period, though she clashed on many occasions with the party leadership. In recognition of her 20 volumes of published literature, she received the Order of Australia, has a Writer's Walk plaque at Circular Quay, and a street named for her in Canberra. The Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript was established in 2015 by UWA Publishing. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award.
  • Louis Becke

    Louis Becke

    Dec. at 58 (1855-1913)
    • Birthplace: Port Macquarie, Australia
    George Lewis Becke was an Australian Pacific trader, short-story writer and novelist.
  • John Kinsella
    • Birthplace: Perth, Australia
    John Kinsella (born 1963) is an Australian poet, novelist, critic, essayist and editor. His writing is strongly influenced by landscape, and he espouses an 'international regionalism' in his approach to place. He has also frequently worked in collaboration with other writers, artists and musicians.