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Phillip
Gwynne
Born
in 1958, Phillip Gwynne is one of eight children. He grew up
in country Victoria and South Australia. A keen Australian Rules
footballer, he played for Woodville in the SANFL before a serious
knee injury finished his career. He graduated from James Cook
University with a degree in Marine Biology but has worked at
many different jobs including picking fruit, deckhand on a fishing
boat, swimming pool manager in a mining camp and computer programming.
Phillip has travelled extensively - he has trekked to Everest
Base Camp, sailed up the Amazon and lived and worked in Thailand,
Belgium and Brazil.
Deadly,
Unna? was Phillip Gwynne's first book. Says Phillip, 'I
only started writing a few years ago. The impetus was my son Gabby
who demanded that I tell him stories at night. After a while I
began to write these stories down. Then a friend persuaded me to
go to a Creative Writing class given by Libby
Gleeson. It was during a writing exercise in this class that
the idea for Deadly, Unna? came to me.' Described
by one reviewer as 'shining with humanity, hope and humour', Deadly,
Unna? charts a fourteen-year-old boy's attempt to come
to grips with the world around him: the small town in which he
lives, his large family, his difficult father, and relationships
with the Aboriginal people of the Point.
   
Phillip wrote
the screenplay for the film adaptation of Deadly, Unna?,
entitled Australian Rules, which was released Australia-wide.
In 2002 he won an AFI award for best adapted screenplay.
Deadly,
Unna? has received the following awards:
- Children's
Book Council Book of the Year for Older Readers (1999)
- Victorian Premier's
Literary Award Cross Pen Prize for Young Adult Fiction (1999)
- Children's
Peace Literature Award (1999)
- South Australian
Festival Award for Literature (2000)
Nukkin
Ya, the sequel to Deadly, Unna?, which
was published to great critical acclaim. Australian Bookseller
and Publisher said: 'Phillip Gwynne can write ... This novel is
at once lyrical and colloquial; mature and fresh; funny and heart-rending
... Gwynne's book will resonate with readers.' Phillip has also
written several books for younger readers, The Worst Team
Ever and Born to Bake in the Aussie
Bites series, Jetty Rats and most recently a new novel for teenagers, Swerve.
 
Phillip’s
first foray into adult crime fiction, The Build Up,
was published in 2008 and he is currently writing a script for a TV series based on this work.
Phillip lives with his wife and three children in the Blue Mountains
and now devotes his time to writing, swimming, bush-walking
and following the Sydney
Swans.
 
He is an excellent
motivational speaker, particularly keen to inspire boys to keep reading
and writing and is much in demand as a speaker at conferences and
literary festivals. One teacher said, 'I found him open, frank and
an inspiring example of how new writers in Australia can be accepted
by a wider market.'
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