Richard Flanagan (born 1961) is an author, historian and film director from Tasmania, Australia. He was president of the Tasmania University Union and a Rhodes Scholar.

The Franklin River and after

A keen canoeist, he canoed the Franklin River thirteen times and was a member of the first expedition to canoe the Jane River and Gordon Gorge. He achieved a first class honours degree at the University of Tasmania in 1982 and in the following year was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. In the foreword to Flanagan's 1985 publication, A Terrible Beauty - History of the Gordon, Bob Brown wrote, Australia has not heard the last of the Tasmanian wilderness nor, I happily predict, has it heard the last of Richard Flanagan.

Each of his novels has attracted major praise. His first, Death of a River Guide (1994), was short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award, as were his next two, The Sound of One Hand Clapping (1997) and Gould's Book of Fish (2001). His earlier, non-fiction titles include books about the Gordon River, student issues, and the story of conman John Friedrich.

Two of his three novels are set on the West Coast of Tasmania; where he lived in the township of Rosebery as a child. Death of a River Guide relates to the Franklin River, Gould's Book of Fish to the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, and The Sound of One Hand Clapping to the Hydro settlements in the Central Highlands of Tasmania.

The 1998 film of The Sound of One Hand Clapping, directed by Flanagan, was nominated for best film at that year's Berlin Film Festival. Gould's Book of Fish won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize. (When originally published in hardback, it had different sections in different type colour, with plates of the fish paintings interleaved in the text; the paperback edition has them at the rear of the book.)

Flanagan has written various pieces on Tasmanian politics for the Australian press, some of which have proved controversial: "The Selling-out of Tasmania", published after the death of popular former Premier Jim Bacon in 2004, was strongly critical of the Bacon government's relationship with corporate interests in the state.

Flanagan's 2007 article in The Monthly [1] is credited as catyalysing Sydney businessman Geoffrey Cousins' high profile campaign against the Gunns' Tasmanian Bell Bay Pulp Mill [2].

A painting of Richard Flanagan by artist Geoffrey Dyer won the 2003 Archibald Prize.

Earlier Non-Fiction

• Student Accommodation Crisis (1984)
• A terrible beauty : history of the Gordon River country Richmond, Vic. : Greenhouse, 1985. ISBN 0-86436-001-0

• The Rest of the World is Watching: Tasmania and the Greens Sydney: Sun, 1990. ISBN 0-7251-0651-4 (co-editor with Cassandra Pybus)
• Codename Iago: The Story of John Friedrich Melbourne : William Heinemann Australia, 1991. ISBN 0-85561-452-8 (with John Friedrich)

Novels

• Death of a River Guide (1994) ISBN 0-14-025785-3
  • Winner 1996 National Fiction Award
  • 1995 Victorian Premier's Award for First Fiction
• The Sound of One Hand Clapping (1997) ISBN 0-330-36042-6
  • Winner 1998 Victorian Premier's Prize for Best Novel
  • 1999 ABA Australian Book of the Year Prize
• Gould's Book of Fish, A novel in twelve fish (2001) ISBN 0-330-36378-6
  • Winner 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize
  • Shortlisted 2002 Miles Franklin Award
• The Unknown Terrorist (2006) ISBN 0-330-42280-4
  • Longlisted 2007 Miles Franklin Award

External links

• The Selling-out of Tasmania
• Paradise Razed, published in The Telegraph
• Review of Gould's Book of Fish
• Richard Flanagan at www.contemporarywriters.com
• The Unknown Terrorist official site
• The Bat Segundo Show podcast interview
• AUSTRALIA a baz luhrmann film
• The Monthly: Gunns Out of Control

See also

• Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania

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