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Shannon Burns Shannon Burns i(A99282 works by)
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Shannon Burns is a freelance writer and member of the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2016 shortlisted Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship for his biography of Australian writer Gerald Murnane, including his place in Australia’s literary and cultural life from the 1970s.
2014 ABR Patrons' Fellow Patrons' Fellowship ABR Patrons' Fellow for his article, entitled ‘A profile of Gerald Murnane’

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Childhood : A Memoir Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2022 24807055 2022 single work autobiography

'A breathtaking, confronting memoir that examines class, poverty, neglect, masculinity, and the transformative power of books

'Things may have been good for a while, but it didn't last- they argued fiercely and he left. Weeks later, she tracked him down and said she was pregnant. So he moved back in with her and they prepared themselves for parenthood.

'Eleven months later I was born. By the time my father discovered the deception, it was too late.

'There is something chastening about this mode of conception, about knowing that, by most standards, your beginning was aberrant.

'In this arresting memoir, Shannon Burns recalls a childhood spent bouncing between dysfunctional homes in impoverished suburbs, between families unwilling or unable to care for him. Aged nine, he beats his head against the pillow to get himself to sleep. Aged ten, he knows his mother will never be able to look after him- he is alone, and can trust no-one.

'Five years later, he is working in a recycling centre-hard labour, poorly paid-yet reading offers hope. He begins reciting lines from Dante, Keats, Whitman, speeches by Martin Luther King, while sifting through the filthy cans and bottles. An affair with the mother of a schoolfriend eventually offers a way out, a path to a life utterly unlike the one he was born into.

'With its clarity of purpose and vividness of expression, Childhood is a powerful act of remembering that is destined to be a classic.' (Publication summary)


 

2023 shortlisted The Age Book of the Year Award Non-Fiction Prize
2023 winner APA Book Design Awards Best Designed Non Fiction Book designed by W. H. Chong.
2023 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Award for Non-Fiction
Waste 2009 single work short story
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , October no. 356 2009; (p. 22-23)
2009 inaugural winner Adelaide Review / University of Adelaide Creative Writing Program Short Fiction Competition
Last amended 24 Jul 2020 09:40:31
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