Peter Goldsworthy
Encyclopedia
Peter Goldsworthy AM
(born 12 October 1951) is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won awards for his short stories
, poetry
, novel
s, and opera
libretti
.
Goldsworthy has been described in A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Australian Poetry as "one of the most skilled and satisfying poets in Australia".
, and grew up in various Australian country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin
in the Northern Territory
. He graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide
in 1974, and worked in alcohol and drug rehabilitation for several years, but, with his poetry being published in Westerly
and the Friendly Street Poetry Reader, he started dividing his working time equally between general practice and writing.
Goldsworthy's eldest daughter Anna
is a successful concert pianist
and also an accomplished writer. They recently worked together on a stage adaptation of Goldsworthy's novel Maestro
.
Australian Classics series, and was voted one of the Top 40 Australian books of all time by members of the Australian Society of Authors.
The Poetry Archive describes his poetry as follows:
The Australian expatriate writer, Clive James
, comments that Goldsworthy's poetry is often seen as a sideline, but argues that it is "at the centre of his achievement". James writes:
operas, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
and Batavia
, the latter winning Mills and Goldsworthy the 2002 Robert Helpmann Award for Best Opera and Best New Australian Work. The Sydney premiere at the Sydney Opera House
on 19 August 2006 was conducted by the composer and attended by the librettist.
In 2009 Honk If You Are Jesus was adapted as a radio play by Mike Ladd
for ABC Radio National
and was broadcast by the BBC World Service
. The novella "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" has also been adapted as a radio-play by Mike Ladd for the ABC.
Goldsworthy's poetry has been set to music by leading Australian composers including Graeme Koehne
, Richard Mills
, and Matthew Hindson
.
In 2008 Ashlee Page is working on the short film The Kiss adapted from the short story of the same name from the collection The List of All Answers.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(born 12 October 1951) is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won awards for his short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
libretti
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
.
Goldsworthy has been described in A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Australian Poetry as "one of the most skilled and satisfying poets in Australia".
Life
Goldsworthy was born in Minlaton, South AustraliaMinlaton, South Australia
Minlaton is a town in central Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. At the 2006 census, Minlaton had a population of 773. It is known as the "Barley capital of the world"....
, and grew up in various Australian country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
. He graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
in 1974, and worked in alcohol and drug rehabilitation for several years, but, with his poetry being published in Westerly
Westerly (Australian literary magazine)
Westerly is a literary magazine that is produced at the University of Western Australia English Department since 1956. It is currently publishes two issues a year....
and the Friendly Street Poetry Reader, he started dividing his working time equally between general practice and writing.
Goldsworthy's eldest daughter Anna
Anna Goldsworthy
Anna Goldsworthy is an Australian writer and classical pianist.-Life:Goldsworthy was born in Adelaide as the eldest daughter of the writer Peter Goldsworthy and Dr Helen Goldsworthy, and began studying the piano at the age of six...
is a successful concert pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and also an accomplished writer. They recently worked together on a stage adaptation of Goldsworthy's novel Maestro
Maestro (novel)
Maestro is a 1989 novel written by Australian author Peter Goldsworthy. It is a bildungsroman which deals with the themes of art and life....
.
Writing career
Goldsworthy's novels have sold over four hundred thousand copies in Australia alone, and, with his poetry and short stories, have been translated into many European and Asian languages. He has won major literary prizes across most genres: for poetry, the short story, the novel, plays and opera.Novels
His first novel Maestro was reissued as part of the Angus & RobertsonAngus & Robertson
Angus & Robertson is a bookstore chain in Australia. Its first bookstore was opened in 110½ Market Street, Sydney by Scotsman David Angus in 1884; it sold second-hand books. In 1886, he went into partnership with fellow Scot, George Robertson with whom he had worked earlier.- Bookselling history...
Australian Classics series, and was voted one of the Top 40 Australian books of all time by members of the Australian Society of Authors.
Poetry and short stories
His New Selected Poems were published in Australia and the UK in 2001; and his Collected Stories appeared in Australia in 2004.The Poetry Archive describes his poetry as follows:
"There's a pressing sense of mortality in his work and a desire to ask the big questions, even as he satirises them. Drawn to the discipline of science, Goldsworthy's poems are full of the language of the laboratory —matter, evidence, elements, chemicals— the stuff we are made of, but at the same time frustrated by these limitations into asking what else we might be. He's interested in 'The Dark Side of the Head', the things we can only know in flashes, like glimpsing a skink, but he also retains a rationalist's scepticism of the ecstatic – that "thoughtlessly exquisite" evening sky in 'Sunset' won't fool him into rapture".
The Australian expatriate writer, Clive James
Clive James
Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
, comments that Goldsworthy's poetry is often seen as a sideline, but argues that it is "at the centre of his achievement". James writes:
"His precise wit operates on every level, from the sonic (a concealed dove really does say hidden here, hidden here) to the conceptual (the human body really is packed tight like an attempt on the record of filling a Mini). The general impression is of a fastidious insistence that the particular comes first, and any general comment that follows had better be particular too."
Libretti
Goldsworthy also writes opera libretti. He wrote the libretti for the Richard MillsRichard Mills
Richard John Mills AM, DMus BA Qld, is an Australian conductor and composer. He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria...
operas, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (opera)
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a chamber opera in two acts by Richard Mills to a libretto by Peter Goldsworthy, based on the play of the same name by Ray Lawler. The opera was commissioned by the Victoria State Opera and premiered on 19 October 1996 at the Playhousein Melbourne. It lasts about...
and Batavia
Batavia (opera)
Batavia is an opera in three acts and a prologue by Richard Mills to a libretto by Peter Goldsworthy,commissioned by Opera Australia. The plot is based on the historical events surrounding the Dutchsailing ship Batavia....
, the latter winning Mills and Goldsworthy the 2002 Robert Helpmann Award for Best Opera and Best New Australian Work. The Sydney premiere at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
on 19 August 2006 was conducted by the composer and attended by the librettist.
Film writing
Goldsworthy wrote or co-wrote the script to several films:- Ebbtide (1994)
- Passion (1999 film)|Passion]] (1999)
Adaptations of his works
His novels Wish, Honk If You Are Jesus, and Three Dog Night have been adapted for the stage. Honk, was premiered by the State Theatre of South Australia in its 2006 season. It won the 2006 Ruby Award for Best New Work, and the 2006 Advertiser Oscart Award for Best Play.In 2009 Honk If You Are Jesus was adapted as a radio play by Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd (poet)
Mike Ladd is an Australian poet and radio presenter.Mike Ladd was born in Berkeley, California while his Australian parents were living and working in America, but he returned to Australia when he was one year old, and grew up in the Adelaide Hills...
for ABC Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
and was broadcast by the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
. The novella "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" has also been adapted as a radio-play by Mike Ladd for the ABC.
Goldsworthy's poetry has been set to music by leading Australian composers including Graeme Koehne
Graeme Koehne
Graeme Koehne is an Australian composer and music educator. He is best known for his orchestral and ballet scores, which are characterised by direct communicative style and embrace of triadic tonality...
, Richard Mills
Richard Mills
Richard John Mills AM, DMus BA Qld, is an Australian conductor and composer. He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria...
, and Matthew Hindson
Matthew Hindson
Matthew John Hindson AM is an Australian composer.-Biography:Matthew Hindson was born in Wollongong in 1968. He studied composition at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne with composers including Peter Sculthorpe, Eric Gross, Brenton Broadstock and Ross Edwards.Hindson's works have been...
.
In 2008 Ashlee Page is working on the short film The Kiss adapted from the short story of the same name from the collection The List of All Answers.
Awards and nominations
- 1979: Western Australian Sesquicentenary Literary Prize for the short-story Memoirs of a small 'm' marxist.
- 1982: CommonwealthCommonwealth of NationsThe Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
Poetry Prize Readings from Ecclesiastes - 1982: FAW Anne Elder Poetry Award, joint winner for Readings from Ecclesiastes
- 1982: South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
n Premier's Award, for Readings from Ecclesiastes - 1984: Government Biennial Literature Prize (South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
), for Readings from Ecclesiastes - 1988: Australian Bicentennial Literary Prize for Poetry
- 1991: NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Turnbull Fox Phillips Poetry Prize, shortlisted for This Goes with That
- 1998: ABC / ABA Bicentennial Literary Award, Poetry Australia Literary Award
- 2002: Robert Helpmann Award for Best Opera and Best New Australian Work for Batavia
- 2002: Green Room AwardGreen Room AwardsThe Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
for Special Creative Achievement for Batavia - 2003: Colin Roderick AwardColin Roderick AwardThe Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presented in 1967 and currently has a prize of A$10,000....
, shortlisted for Three Dog Night - 2004: Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
. Shortlisted for Three Dog Night - 2004: FAW Christina SteadChristina SteadChristina Stead was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations.-Biography:...
Award for Three Dog Night - 2004: The Courier-MailThe Courier-MailThe Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
Book of the Year. Shortlisted for Three Dog Night - 2004: Queensland Premier's Literary AwardsQueensland Premier's Literary AwardsThe Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were inaugurated in 1999 and have grown to become a leading literary awards program within Australia, with $225,000 in prizemoney over 14 categories. One of Australia's richest prizes, top categories offer up to $25,000 for 1st prize.-Fiction Book...
. Shortlisted for Three Dog Night - 2004: New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
. Shortlisted for Three Dog Night - 2005: International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, longlisted for Three Dog Night
- 2009: Prime Minister's Literary AwardsPrime Minister's Literary AwardsThe Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming Rudd Ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts....
. Shortlisted for Everything I Knew - 2010: Order of AustraliaOrder of AustraliaThe Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
. (AM) Citation: "For service to literature as an author and poet, through arts administration, and to the community."
Novels
- MaestroMaestro (novel)Maestro is a 1989 novel written by Australian author Peter Goldsworthy. It is a bildungsroman which deals with the themes of art and life....
(1989) - MagpieMagpieMagpies are passerine birds of the crow family, Corvidae.In Europe, "magpie" is often used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie, as there are no other magpies in Europe outside Iberia...
(1992) - Honk If You are Jesus (1992)
- Wish (1995)
- Keep it Simple, Stupid (1996)
- Three Dog NightThree Dog Night (novel)-Dramatic adaptation:In 2008 Petra Kalive adptated this novel for the stage. Its first production was directed by Andrew Gray at Two Blue Cherries Theatre Company at fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, 14-25 May 2008.-Awards:...
(2003) - Everything I Knew (2008)
Poetry collections
- Readings from Ecclesiastes, (1982)
- This Goes with That: Selected Poems 1970–1990, (1991)
- After the Ball, (1992)
- If, Then: Poems and Songs, (1996)
- New Selected Poems (2001)
- Tattered Joys (2002)
Short story collections
- Archipelagoes (1982)
- Zooing (1986)
- Bleak Rooms (1988)
- Little Deaths (1993)
- The List of All Answers (2004)
- Gravel (2010)
Adaptations
- The Kiss (2010), short film by Ashlee Page adapted from the short story The Kiss (2008)
- Three Dog Night (2011)