AustLit

Leaving school at the age of sixteen, Paul Radley worked as a storeman at David Jones in Newcastle (NSW). Two years later his manuscript for the 1980 Australian/Vogel Award was awarded first place and the novel Jack Rivers and Me was published in 1981. Radley followed this success by publishing two more novels during the 1980s. In 1983 he spent a year as writer-in residence at Scotland's St Andrews University and he also received a fellowship from the Literature Board.

In 1996 Radley revealed that he was not the author of the three novels attributed to his name and that Jack Rivers and Me was actually written by his uncle, Jack Radley (q.v.). Paul Radley had assisted his uncle by recording family conversations and acting as author to make the manuscript eligible for the Australian/Vogel Award. The other two novels attributed to Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me (1982) and Good Mates (1985), were written entirely by his uncle, Jack Radley. Despite the controversy (exacerbated by its similarity with the Demidenko Affair) Jack Rivers and Me remains a widely admired novel, attracting praise from writers such as David Malouf and Kate Grenville.