Trent Dalton

Trent Dalton (born 23 April 1979) is an Australian journalist and literary fiction author.[1]

Trent Dalton
Born (1979-04-23) 23 April 1979
Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
OccupationWriter
GenreLong-form journalism, adult literary fiction
Notable worksBoy Swallows Universe
All Our Shimmering Skies
Notable awardsABIA Awards
Indie Book Awards
MUD Literary Prize
Walkley Awards

Life and career

Dalton was born in Ipswich, Queensland, the youngest of four sons.[2][3] He spent his early childhood living with his mother and stepfather in Brassall.[2] Both sold heroin and spent time in jail.[4] After his mother was sent to prison, Dalton spent the rest of his childhood living with his father in a Housing Commission house in Bracken Ridge, a suburb on the northern outskirts of Brisbane.[5][6] After high school, Dalton studied journalism for one year at University of Southern Queensland then another year at Queensland University of Technology.[7][5] He has two daughters with his wife Fiona.[3]

After being recommended by a QUT tutor, Dalton was hired in 2000 as a writer for Brisbane News, a free weekly magazine.[3][6] He then worked as a journalist for The Courier-Mail.[3] As of August 2021, he works as a staff writer for The Weekend Australian Magazine.[8]

In 2011, Dalton published Detours: Stories from the Street, a book containing profiles of 20 people he had interviewed who were living on the street, or at risk of becoming homeless.[6][9]

In 2018, he published the semi-autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe through 4th Estate,[10] which was longlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award.[11]

In May 2019, the television adaptation rights for Boy Swallows Universe were secured by Anonymous Content, Chapter One and Hopscotch Features.[12] In March 2022, it was announced that an 8-episode limited series had been commissioned by Netflix.[13] The Queensland Theatre Company also developed a play from the novel,[14][15] which premiered in September 2021 at the Brisbane Festival.[16]

In 2020, Dalton published his second novel, All Our Shimmering Skies.[17] In 2021, Dalton published Love Stories, a collection of love stories gathered from interviews with people.[18] Dalton's third novel, Lola in the Mirror, was released in October 2023.[19]

Works

Fiction
  • Boy Swallows Universe. HarperCollins Australia. 2018. ISBN 9781460708415.
  • All Our Shimmering Skies. HarperCollins Australia. 2020. ISBN 9781460753903.
  • Lola in the Mirror. 4th Estate. 2023. ISBN 9781460759837.

Non-fiction
  • Detours: Stories from the Street. Celeste Davidson. 2011. ISBN 9780646558677.
  • By Sea & Stars: The Story of the First Fleet. 4th Estate. 2018. Originally published as a multi-part series in The Australian.
  • Love Stories. 4th Estate. 2021. ISBN 9781460760932.

Awards

Journalism awards
  • Walkley Awards
    • 2011: Winner: Social Equity Journalism for "Home is where the hurt is"[20]
    • 2015: Winner: Feature Writing Short (under 4000 words) for "The Ghosts of Murray Street"[21]
    • 2020: Shortlisted: Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) for "Back From The Black"

Literary prizes

References
  1. "Trent Dalton: Why I Wrote Boy Swallows Universe". HarperCollins Australia. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  2. Jodie Richter (11 July 2018). "Meet the man behind the boy who swallowed the universe". Ipswich First. Ipswich City Council.
  3. Purdon, Fiona (29 June 2018). "'We just knew him as Slim … we didn't know he escaped from Boggo Rd prison'". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  4. Divola, Barry (11 February 2019). "Boy Swallows Universe author Trent Dalton mines his childhood to craft a future Aussie classic". PerthNow. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  5. "How Trent Dalton Channeled Boy Swallows Universe". Style Magazines. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  6. Ludlow, Mark (6 October 2023). "Fastest-selling debut novelist in Australia gets Netflix series". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  7. Love, Wendy. "Trent Dalton". Where I Belong (Podcast). Museum of Brisbane. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  8. "Trent Dalton", profile, The Australian
  9. Nancarrow, Dan (25 May 2012). "'It could happen to you': book shines light on homelessness". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  10. "Boy Swallows Universe". HarperCollins Australia. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  11. "Miles Franklin 2019 longlist announced". Books+Publishing. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  12. "Awards, Oprah and a TV Deal: Success Continues for Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe". Better Reading. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  13. Quinn, Karl (4 March 2022). "Boy Swallows Universe: Netflix swallows Trent Dalton's bestselling novel for 8-part series". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  14. "Boy Swallows Universe". Queensland Theatre Company. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  15. Kembrey, Melanie (25 September 2020). "Why Trent Dalton needed to 'run a mile' from his hit debut novel". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  16. "Boy Swallows Universe Page to Stage Forum Playback". ABC Radio. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  17. Kavanagh, Bec (1 October 2020). "All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton review – a quest fable follow-up to Boy Swallows Universe". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  18. Brown, Phil (30 June 2021). "Trent Dalton hits the streets for his new book, Love Stories". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  19. Wornes, Hollie. "Trent Dalton in Conversation at City Recital Hall". Broadsheet. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  20. "Quality journalism rewarded at Walkleys". The Courier-Mail. 27 November 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  21. "Trent Dalton". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  22. Jefferson, Dee (3 May 2019). "First-time novelist wins Book of Year for suburban coming-of-age saga Boy Swallows Universe". ABC News. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  23. "ABIA 2021 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  24. "'Boy Swallows Universe' wins Book of the Year at 2019 Indie Book Awards". Books+Publishing. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  25. "Indie Book Awards 2021 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  26. "Indie Book Awards 2022 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  27. "Boy Swallows Universe". International Dublin Literary Award. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  28. Sly, David (21 February 2020). "For a group of Adelaide philanthropists, the value of supporting Australian literature is as clear as MUD". The Adelaide Review. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  29. Perkins, Cathy (Summer 2019). "Excellence in Literature and History" (PDF). SL Magazine. State Library of New South Wales. 12 (4): 52–55.
  30. "2019 Queensland Literary Awards Shortlist". State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  31. "Finalists announced for Queensland people's choice award". Books+Publishing. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  32. "Short List 2019". the voss literary prize. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.

Further reading
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