Garry Disher Explained

Garry Disher (born 15 August 1949, in Corporate Town of Burra, South Australia) is an Australian author of crime fiction and children's literature.^[1] He is a three-time winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel.

Disher has written three main book series. These include: the Wyatt^[2] thrillers about a master thief, the Peninsula Crimes^[3] procedurals about Waterloo cops Hal Challis and Ellen Destry, and the Hirsch series^[4] about South Australian rural police constable Paul Hirschhausen.

Awards

• The Canberra Times National Short Story Competition, 1986: winner for "Amateur Hour"
• Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year: Younger Readers, 1993: winner for The Bamboo Flute
• IBBY Honour Diploma, Writing, 1994 for The Bamboo Flute
• NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1996: shortlisted for The Sunken Road
• New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Ethnic Affairs Commission Award, 1999: shortlisted for The Divine Wind
• Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year: Older Readers, 1999: shortlisted for The Divine Wind
• New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, The Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature, 1999: winner for The Divine Wind
• Deutscher Krimi Preis (German Crime Fiction Award), International, 2000: winner for Kickback
• Deutscher Krimi Preis (German Crime Fiction Award), International, 2002: winner for The Dragon Man
• Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2007: winner for Chain of Evidence^[5]
• Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2010: winner for Wyatt
• Deutscher Krimi Preis (German Crime Fiction Award), International, 2017: winner for Bitter Wash Road
• Ned Kelly Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018^[6]
• Colin Roderick Award, 2020: shortlisted for Peace^[7]
• Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2021: winner for Consolation^[8]
• Colin Roderick Award, 2021: shortlisted for Consolation^[9]

Bibliography

Novels

• Steal Away (1987)
• The Stencil Man (1988)
• The Sunken Road (1996)
• Past the Headlands (2001)
• Play Abandoned (2011)
• Under the Cold Bright Lights (2017)
• Her (2017)
• The Way It Is Now (2021)
• Sanctuary (2024)

Crime series – The Wyatt novels

• Kickback (1991)
• Paydirt (1992)
• Deathdeal (1993)
• Crosskill (1994)
• Port Vila Blues (1996)
• The Fallout (1997)
• Wyatt (2010)
• The Wyatt Butterfly (2010: omnibus containing Port Vila Blues and The Fallout)
• The Heat (2015)
• Kill Shot (2018)

Crime series – The Challis and Destry novels, aka the Peninsula Crimes series

• The Dragon Man (1999)
• Kittyhawk Down (2003)
• Snapshot (2005)
• Chain of Evidence (2007)
• Blood Moon (2009)
• Whispering Death (2012)
• Signal Loss (2016)

Crime series – The Paul "Hirsch" Hirschhausen novels

• Bitter Wash Road (2013) published in 2014 as Hell to Pay in the US
• Peace (2019) published by Text Publishing
• Consolation (2020) published by Text Publishing
• Day's End (2022) published by Text Publishing

Short story collections

• Approaches (1981)
• The Difference to Me (1988)
• Flamingo Gate (1991)
• Straight, Bent and Barbara Vine (crime stories, 1997)

Young adult

• Blame the Wind (1995)
• Restless : Stories of Flight & Fear (1995)
• The Half Dead (1997)
• The Apostle Bird (1997)
• The Divine Wind (1999)
• From Your Friend, Louis Deane (2000)
• Moondyne Kate (2001)
• Eva's Angel (2003)
• Two-Way Cut (2004)

Children's

• The Bamboo Flute (1992)
• Ratface (1993)
• Ermyntrude Takes Charge (1995)
• Walk Twenty, Run Twenty (1996)
• Maddie Finn (2002)
• Switch Cat (1994)

Edited

• The Man Who Played Spoons (1987)
• Personal Best (1989)
• Personal Best 2 (1991)
• Below the Waterline (1999)

Non-fiction

• Wretches and Rebels: The Australian Bushrangers (1981)
• Writing Fiction: An Introduction to the Craft (1983)
• Bushrangers (1984)
• Total War: The Home Front, 1939-1945 (1985)
• Australia Then & Now (1987)
• Writing Professionally: The Freelancer's Guide to Writing and Marketing (1989)
• Writing Fiction: An Introduction to the Craft (revised edition) (2001)

External links

• Garry Disher's website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit — Garry Disher . Austlit. 29 November 2024.
2. Web site: Wyatt series by Garry Disher by . Austlit. 29 November 2024.
3. Web site: Peninsula Crimes series by Garry Disher by . Austlit. 29 November 2024.
4. Web site: Hirsch series by Garry Disher by . Austlit. 29 November 2024.
5. Web site: Previous Winners: Best Fiction . Australian Crime Writers Association. 2 July 2023.
6. News: Sullivan . Jane . Garry Disher is Australian crime fiction's gentle giant . 17 March 2021 . The Sydney Morning Herald . 8 November 2019.
7. Web site: 2020-08-03. Colin Roderick Award 2020 shortlist announced. 2020-08-03. Books+Publishing. en-AU.
8. Web site: Ned Kelly Awards 2021 winners announced . Books+Publishing. 2 July 2023.
9. Web site: 2021-08-02. Woman and fiction dominate the 2021 Colin Roderick Literary Award Shortlist. 2021-08-04. James Cook University. en-AU.