Winton, Tim

Born in Karrinyup, Western Australia, Tim Winton completed his high school education at Albany. Determined to be a writer from an early age, Winton subsequently studied creative writing at the West Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University). He became a professional writer and household name when, at the age of 21, he shared first prize in the 1981 Australian/Vogel National Literary Award for a manuscript that became An Open Swimmer (1982).

Several other books followed in the 1980s and he won his first Miles Franklin Award for The Shallows (1984). He travelled overseas with his wife and young family in the late 1980s, but his work retained a strong attachment to the coastal regions of Western Australia, especially the areas around which he grew up. He returned to Western Australia to purchase a house on the coast and won his second Miles Franklin Literary Award for Cloudstreet in 1992.

Winton has written a number of children's books and the award-winning 'Lockie Leonard' series was adapted for television in 2007. But he has continued to attract praise from critics while remaining popular with adult readers across the world. His novels have been published in England and the United States of America, translated into a number of languages and adapted for the stage, television and film. Among many other awards, The Riders was short-listed for the Booker Prize and he received his third Miles Franklin Literary Award for Dirt Music in 2002.

A passionate campaigner for social and environmental causes, Winton has held the post of vice-president of the Australian Marine Conservation Society and was the inaugural winner os ASA Medal in recognition of his contribution to saving Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. His autobiographical meditation, Land's Edge (1993) was accompanied by the photography of Trish Ainslie and Roger Garwod and he has also contributed text and memoirs to several other books of photography, including Bill Bachmann's Local Colour (1994) and Richard Woldendrop's Down to Earth (1999).