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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

18387981
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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 He. Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2021 20533393 2021 single work autobiography

'And in the middle in khaki shorts, dusty knees, is he. Aged twelve he already has a certain earnestness, the solemnity, trying to comprehend what is incomprehensible, ‘he wouldn’t know what day it is’.

'He. is an elusive, elliptical, often beautiful thread of observations and memories. It is not autobiography, or even memoir, but a portrait of a figure shown to be passing through time and circumstances.

'In vignettes, sometimes mere fragments, we glimpse moments and lives—parents, teachers, wives; in Bombay of the 1960s, Paris and London of the 1970s, Melbourne and Sydney—as this figure remembers the years.

'These are Murray Bail’s last reflections on his life: the final book from the acclaimed author of such classic novels as The Pages, Eucalyptus (winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award) and Homesickness.' (Publication summary)
2022 joint winner APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Non Fiction Book desgined by W. H. Chong.
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 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 / Poetry Cover designed by W.H. Chong.
2012 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Fiction
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 — Prize for Fiction
2009 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
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Last amended 24 Jun 2013 08:53:31
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