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Thomas Keneally
Australian novelist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian writer. He has won several major awards including the Miles Franklin Award and the Booker Prize.[1]
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Keneally was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1935. His early life was spent in northern New South Wales around the towns of Kemspey, Wauchope and Taree.[2] He began training to become a Roman Catholic priest but left at the end of six years when he had a nervous breakdown.[3] He wanted to be able to marry, which he did later and had two daughters.[1] His first job was as a teacher, and during this time he began writing short stories. He began studying to become a lawyer and wrote his first book, a novel called The Place at Whitton, in 1964.[1]
His book, Bring Larks and Heroes (1967), was given the Miles Franklin Award.[1] In 1982, his book Schindler's Ark, won the Booker Prize. This was made into a movie, Schindler's List, in 1993.[1]
Keneally was the first chairman of the Australian Republican Movement.