Nick Earls

Australian novelist

Nick Earls

Born| Nicholas Francis Ward Earls
(1963-10-08) 8 October 1963 (age 61)
Newtownards, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Occupation| Novelist
Nationality| Australian
Website
nickearls.wordpress.com

Nicholas Francis Ward Earls (born 8 October 1963) is a novelist from Brisbane, Australia, who writes humorous popular fiction about everyday life. The majority of his novels are set in his home town of Brisbane. He fronted a major Brisbane tourism campaign.[1]

## Biography

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Earls was born on 8 October 1963 in Newtownards, Northern Ireland.[2] He emigrated to Australia with his parents and sister at the age of nine. Living in Brisbane, he was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School there.[3] He completed a medical degree at the University of Queensland and worked as a GP before turning to writing.[4]

## Career

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Earls has been compared to Nick Hornby.[5] Zigzag Street, his second novel, won the Betty Trask Award in 1998[6] (sharing with Kiran Desai's Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard). His young-adult novel, 48 Shades of Brown, won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for older readers in 2000.[7] Several of his novels (After January and 48 Shades of Brown) have been adapted for theatre, and 48 Shades of Brown was adapted into a film entitled 48 Shades, released in August 2006. Earls has also written other novels, including Bachelor Kisses (which borrows its title from a song by Brisbane band The Go-Betweens), Perfect Skin, World of Chickens, The Thompson Gunner, and young adult novels After January, and Making Laws for Clouds.[8]

Earls has also contributed to the four best-selling anthologies in the Girls' Night In series as well as Kids' Night In and Kids' Night in 2 as editor. His most recent novels are Welcome to Normal, a collection of original short stories, The True Story of Butterfish, about a former rock star re-adjusting to mundane life in the Brisbane suburbs, and Monica Bloom, based on his own adolescent experience of an ill-fated crush.[4]

Several of his books have been adapted for the stage by Brisbane's La Boite Theatre Company.

He is referenced in the film All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane.

## Bibliography

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This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2015)

|

Year | Work | Notes

|
|

2021  | Empires | novel
2017 | Wisdom Tree | novella series
2015 | New Boy | novel
2014 | Analogue Men | novel
2012 | Welcome to Normal | short stories
2011 | The Fix | novel
2009 | The True Story of Butterfish | novel
2007 | Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight | young adult novel, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow
A revealed life: Australian writers and their journeys in memoir | collection of memoirs from Australian writers, including Nick Earls, edited by Julianne Schultz
2006 | Monica Bloom | young adult novel
Making waves: 10 years of the Byron Bay Writers Festival | collection of short works by Australian authors, including Nick Earls, edited by Marele Day, Susan Bradley Smith and Fay Knight |
2004 | The Thompson Gunner | novel
2003 | Kid's Night In | edited by Jessica Adams, Juliet Partridge and Nick Earls
2002 | Making Laws for Clouds | young adult novel
2001 | World of Chickens | novel
2000 | Penguin Australian Summer Stories 3 | collection of short stories by Australian authors including Nick Earls
Perfect Skin | novel
1999 | 48 Shades of Brown | young adult novel
1998 | Bachelor Kisses | novel. Set in a house in Bayliss Street, Toowong, Brisbane, Australia.[9]
There Must Be Lions: Stories About Mental Illness | with Sonya Hartnett and Heide Seaman, features Nick Earl's short story There Must Be Lions
The Gift of Story | edited by Marion Halligan and Rosanne Fitzgibbon, features Nick Earls' short story Plaza
1996 | Zigzag Street | novel. Set in a house addressed as 34 Zigzag Street, Red Hill, Brisbane, Australia.[10]
After January | young adult novel
Smashed: Australian drinking stories | collection, edited by Matthew Condon and Richard Lawson, includes Nick Earls' short story Green
Original Sin | edited by Robyn Sheahan, includes Nick Earls' short story Box-shaped Heart
Sporting Declaration | edited by Manfred Jurgensen, includes Nick Earls' short story PE
Blur: Stories by young Australian writers | edited by James Bradley, includes Nick Earls' short story Head games
1995 | Paradise To Paranoia: New Queensland Writing | edited by Nigel Krauth and Robyn Sheehan, includes Nick Earls' short story Meanwhile, thirty-eight above Charlotte |
Picador New Writing 3 | edited by Drusilla Modjeska and Beth Yahp, includes Nick Earls' short story The Goatflap brothers and the house of names |
Nightmares in Paradise | compiled by Robyn Sheahan, includes Nick Earls' short story Juliet |

### For children

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#### Series: Word Hunters

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1. Earls, Nick; Whidborne, Terry (2012). The curious dictionary. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press.

### Short fiction

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Title  | Year  | First published  | Reprinted/collected

|
|
|

Moving  | 1993  | Earls, Nick (1993). "Moving". Outrider: A Journal of Multicultural Literature in Australia. 10: 49–58. Issue titled Queensland, words and all.  | Earls, Nick (1999). Headgames. Ringwood, Vic: Penguin. pp. 233–246.
Dog 1, Dog 2  | 1993  | Earls, Nick (1993). "Dog 1, Dog 2". Outrider: A Journal of Multicultural Literature in Australia. 10: 59–64. Issue titled Queensland, words and all.  |

* Earls, Nick (1999). Headgames. Ringwood, Vic: Penguin. pp. 73–84.
* Kaminsky, Leah, ed. (2010). The pen and the stethoscope. Carlton North, Vic: Scribe. pp. 156–164.

#### Collections

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* Earls, Nick (1992). Passion. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press.
* — (1999). Headgames. Ringwood, Vic: Penguin.
* — (2012). Welcome to Normal. North Sydney, NSW: Vintage.

### Poetry

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* Earls, Nick (1985). Near and far away. Clayfield, Qld: Boolarong.

### Critical studies and reviews

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* Poacher, Jeffrey (September 2011). "Comic spin". Australian Book Review (334): 50. Review of The fix.
* Introduction to a reissue of The Delinquents by Criena Rohan, 2014 Retrieved 17 October 2015

## References

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1. ^ Media Release: Nick Earls tells Brisbane's story through new campaign Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Brisbane Marketing, 20 March 2002.
2. ^ Author: Nick Earls, Penguin Group
3. ^ Mason, James (2011). Churchie: The Centenary Register. Brisbane, Australia: The Anglican Church Grammar School. ISBN 978-0-646-55807-3.
4. ^ a b Silkstone, Dan: Mature face of Aussie lad lit, The Age, 15 July 2006.
5. ^ Wyndham, Susan: The Hot Seat: Nick Earls, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 September 2006.
6. ^ "The Betty Trask Prizes and Awards:Past Winners". The Society of Authors. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013.
7. ^ "Winners 2000 - 2006 - CBCA". Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
8. ^ Sunny Garden – The Official Nick Earls Website. Sunny Garden – The Official Nick Earls Website. 23 April 2007.
9. ^ Earls, Nick (1998). Bachelor Kisses. Ringwood, VIC: Viking. p. 20\. ISBN 0670877859.
10. ^ Earls, Nick (1996). Zigzag Street. Moorebank, NSW: Anchor. p. 104\. ISBN 0868246786.

## External links

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* Nick Earls – the official Nick Earls web site
* The University of Queensland – 2006 Alumnus of the Year
* Stories from the Q150 Steam Train – Nick Earls by Nick Earls, a 3 min 56 sec video, published by State Library of Queensland as part of Storylines:Q150 digital stories

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