Louis Kaye, was the pseudonym of Noel Wilson Norman (14 July 1901 - 19 April 1981), an Australian novelist and short story writer. He also published short stories under the names Grant Doyle Cooper and James Linnel.

He was born in Claremont, Tasmania

Claremont, Tasmania

Claremont is a suburb of the City of Glenorchy, part of the greater Hobart area, Tasmania, Australia. It is named after Claremont House, which was built in the 1830s by local settler Henry Bilton, who named it after one of the royal homes of England. Claremont was the home of an Army training...

 to a well-connected Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne, Tasmania

Lindisfarne is a suburb of Hobart's Eastern Shore, located approximately 6 kilometres from the City Centre and is part of the municipal City of Clarence.-History:...

 family but was more interested in an adventurous outback life than one of business and politics. From 1917 he was to make frequent forays into the Western Australian bush

The Bush

"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries.-Australia:The term is iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" describes a wooded area, intermediate between a shrubland and a forest, generally of dry and nitrogen-poor soil, mostly...

 to experience first-hand life in the bush and deserts of outback Australia. His experience of aboriginal life was augmented by reading the works of anthropologist Baldwin Spencer

Walter Baldwin Spencer

Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer KCMG was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist.Baldwin was born in Stretford, Lancashire. His father, Reuben Spencer, who had come from Derbyshire in his youth, obtained a position with Rylands and Sons, cotton manufacturers, and rose to be chairman of its...

.

He was already a successful contributor of short stories to overseas magazines in 1931 when he wrote his first novel, Tybal Men, set in a WA

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 sheep station

Sheep station

A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South...

. He is regarded as giving a realistic depiction of bush life and aboriginal culture, though criticised for emulating the "violent excesses of the American cowboy novel".

His brother Don (Donald Manners Thirkell) Norman (24 April 1909 - 10 March 2001) was a writer (e.g. Errol Flynn : the Tasmanian story W.N. Hurst and E.L. Metcalf, Hobart c1981 ISBN 0959414606) and historian.

Short stories

(this list is by no means exhaustive)

• Off the Trail in Everybody’s Magazine May 1927
• The Gold Carriers in Everybody’s Magazine Nov 1927
• The Tracks of Sonya in The Passing Show Oct 1 1932
• The Lee Rail in The Australian Journal May 1937
• Widow’s Cruise in The Passing Show Sep 25 1937
• Well - Let’s Laugh! in The Passing Show Jan 22 1938
• Strange Ones in The Passing Show Feb 19 1938
• Boomerang in London Evening News Jul 28 1938
• Old Man Kangaroo in Adventure Jun 1940
• Walk to Glory in The Saturday Evening Post Nov 2 1940
• Desert Gold in Blue Book Jan 1941
• The Brumby Car in Colliers Feb 20 1943
• Kangaroo Rifle in Blue Book May 1945
• Mark of Brotherhood in Blue Book Aug 1945
• Back Country Boy in Blue Book Apr 1948
• By the Last Fires in Short Stories May 1950
• The Necklet in Short Stories Oct 1950
• The Storm Strip in Blue Book Feb 1951

Novels

• Tybal Men pub. Wright & Brown, London 1931

also as Tybal Men - A Struggle For Survival in the Outback Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1988 ISBN 0207148139

• Trail of Plunder pub. Wright & Brown, London 1931
• Desert Herbage pub. Wright & Brown, London 1932
• The End of the Trail pub. Wright & Brown, London 1933
• The Desert Boss pub. Wright & Brown, London 1934
• Tightened Belts pub. Wright & Brown, London 1934
• Pathways of Free Men pub. Wright & Brown, London 1935
• The Dark Gods pub. Wright & Brown, London 1935
• The Lonely Land pub. Wright & Brown, London 1935
• Black Wilderness pub. Wright & Brown, London 1936
• Darkened Camps London : Wright & Brown, 1936
• Vanished Legion pub. Wright & Brown, London 1937
• Tracks of Levask pub. Wright & Brown, London 1938

Sources

• Oxford Companion to Australian Literature ed. W H Wilde, Joy Hooton, Barry Andrews, Oxford University Press 1994
• The Bibliography of Australian Literature John Arnold, John Hay University of Queensland Press