Tony Birch – April 30 2017

Tony is a poet, short story writer and novelist. He was born in inner-city Melbourne into a large family of Australian Aboriginal, Irish and West Indian descent. He is a frequent contributor to ABC local and national radio and a regular guest at writers’ festivals. Tony has lectured at The University of Melbourne for many years, and was the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University. His stories have appeared in several ‘Best of …’ anthologies, both within Australia and internationally. Shadowboxing and Father’s Day are taught in the Victorian secondary school system and Tony regularly visits schools to discuss his own work and run writing workshops. Tony teaches in the Creative Writing program at The University of Melbourne and also runs community writing events as part of the his outreach work. His latest books, The Promise (2014) and Ghost River (2015) affirm his position as one of Australia’s finest writers of short-form fiction using his unflinching creative gaze to ponder love and loss and faith.

Shadowboxing
Scribe 2006; ISBN 9781921640155
Young adult
Ten linked stories follow Michael as he grows up in 1960s Fitzroy and matures into a sensitive adult who can forgive but never forget. This beautifully rendered time capsule captures a period of decay, turmoil and change through innocent unblinking eyes. Led by his long-suffering mother, Michael’s family lives as though under siege, surviving his father’s drinking and rage, and the forces of ‘urban renewal’. Their neighbourhood is a world of simple pleasures and random brutality; of family love and violence and tragedy. Michael experiences all this with a combination of wonder and fear. Shadowboxing is a riveting story of loss and permanence, power and weakness, stoicism and resistance.

Blood
University of Queensland Press, 2012; ISBN 9780702249549
Young adult
Jesse has sworn to protect his sister, Rachel, no matter what. It’s a promise that cannot be broken. A promise made in blood. But, when it comes down to life or death, how can he find the courage to keep it? Set on the back roads of Australia, Blood is a boy’s odyssey through a broken-down adult world.
‘A humanist masterpiece.’ – Australian Book Review
’Irresistibly compelling.’ – Sydney Morning Herald