Guest of the ilb 2002
Philip Gwynne was born in 1958
in Melbourne and grew up with seven brothers and sisters in South
Australia where his stories about Blacky, Dumby Red and Clarence are
also set. Philip Gwynne has had many diverse professions.
Before he started writing, he was a professional 'Australian Rules’
footballer. When an injury ended his football career he completed
marine biology studies and then travelled extensively. He worked
as a teacher in Thailand and as a programmer in Belgium and lived for a
while in Brazil before settling in Sydney with his son. Gwynne
only started writing a few years ago. Inspired by the regular
evening stories which he read to his son, he visited a creative writing
seminar given by the Australian children’s book author Libby
Gleeson. During this time he developed the idea for his first
young people’s novel.
'Deadly, Unna?' came out in 1998 and became an amazing success.
It was awarded several prizes and nominations including, in 1999, the
'Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for Older
Readers'. Gwynne’s debut novel was also internationally a great
success. In 2002, the novel was nominated for the 'German Young
People’s Literature Prize'.
Praised by the critics as "one of the political books for young people
most worth reading" ('Die Welt') 'Deadly, Unna?' tells of the daily
racism between the 'Goonyas', the white Australians and the 'Nungas',
the Aborigines. With great warmth and sensitivity, disarming and
ironic, as well as peppered with 'Aussieisms', typical Australian
expressions and idioms, Gwynne reflects the friendship between
14-year-old Gary, who is called Blacky, and Dumby Red, an Aborigine,
who play football together in a small coastal town in South Australia,
this being the only activity which unites the colourful collection of
port town dwellers and the Aborigine community. The hero tells of
the big football final and so creates an intense picture of the village
community and his own family. The reader learns of the unwritten
team rules, the matter of fact humiliation inflicted on the
Aborigines by the whites and the tough prejudices in
their daily life together. When Dumby Red is killed
during a break-in, the fragile community falls apart and Blacky fights
for his own stance against the ways of thinking of all those around
him. His quiet rebellion is also a farewell to his own childhood.
In 1999, Philip Gwynne published 'The Worst Team Ever' in the famous
'Aussie Bites Series' for younger readers. In ‘Nukkin Ya’ (2000), too,
the second installment of the story about Blacky, the unchanged and
lingering conflict between whites and aborigines, is the central theme.
The 15 year-old Blacky is in love with Clarence, a Nunga. This
relationship brings the world of the aboriginies closer to him, and at
the same time he learns the consequences that follow from the racism
prevalent on both sides. Gwynne’s novel for teenagers ‘Jetty Rates’
(2004), which was named book of the month by the Institut für
Jugendliteratur in July 2006, deals with growing up and the difficult
topic of getting over the loss of someone you love. For 13 year-old
Hunter life isn’t the same after his father is lost at sea. Only when
his biggest dream is realised and he manages (like his father before
him) to catch the rare big fish, Mulloway, does his life start to turn
good again.
Together with the director Paul Goldman, Philip
Gwynne also wrote the script for the cinema film 'Australian Rules',
based on Gwynne’s 'Deadly, Unna?' and 'Nukkin Ya'. The film
premiere was shown in 2001 at the 'Sundance Film Festival' in Utah, USA
and in spring 2002, it was shown at the 'Adelaide Festival' in
Australia where it was controversially discussed.
© international literature festival berlin
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