Australia Council For The Arts Bio

Luke Davies

Sydney-based Luke Davies is a poet and novelist, whose work has been widely published both in Australia and overseas.

Luke Davies is the author of two novels, including the cult bestseller Candy (Allen & Unwin, Australia, 1997), which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards in 1998 and has since been published in Britain, the United States and translated into German, Spanish, Hebrew and French. A film starring Heath Ledger was released in 2006 and won Davies the (AFI) Awards, Best Adapted Screenplay, 2006. Davies' other novel is Isabelle the Navigator (Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2000).

Originally a poet though, Davies was awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Poetry in 2004. He has published five books of poetry, including Running With Light (Allen & Unwin, Australia, 1999), winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2000, and Totem (Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2004), the 2004 Age Book of the Year winner.

Davies has completed several residencies around the world, including at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre for the Arts, Ireland 1998, the Australia Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand, December 1998-March 1999, Centre d'Art I Natura, Farrera de Pallars, Spain, June 1999, and Schloss Wiepersdorf, Germany 2004.

Davies was awarded the Dorothy Hewett Memorial Fellowship (Writer-in-Residence) in 2003, Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Poetry (2004) and in 2004 won the Age Poetry Book of the Year and Book of the Year.

His works have been translated into German, Spanish, Thai, French, and Hebrew.

Source: Australian Government - Australia Council For The Arts