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, and most recently, Jetty
Rats.
  
Phillip’s first foray into adult crime fiction, The
Build Up, will be published
in August 2008.
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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