Garry Disher

Garry Disher
Born	(1949-08-15) 15 August 1949 (age 75) Corporate Town of Burra, South Australia
Occupation	Author
Genre	Mystery fiction, children's fiction
Years active	1987–present
Notable awards	Ned Kelly Awards

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 ^[5]
• 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]
• Colin Roderick Award, 2025: shortlisted for Sanctuary ^[10]

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
• Mischance Creek (2025)

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)

References

1. "Austlit — Garry Disher". Austlit. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
2. "Wyatt series by Garry Disher by". Austlit. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
3. "Peninsula Crimes series by Garry Disher by". Austlit. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
4. "Hirsch series by Garry Disher by". Austlit. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
5. "Previous Winners: Best Fiction". Australian Crime Writers Association. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
6. Sullivan, Jane (8 November 2019). "Garry Disher is Australian crime fiction's gentle giant". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
7. "Colin Roderick Award 2020 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
8. "Ned Kelly Awards 2021 winners announced". Books+Publishing. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
9. "Woman and fiction dominate the 2021 Colin Roderick Literary Award Shortlist". James Cook University. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
10. "Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award 2025 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 5 August 2025. Retrieved 6 August 2025.

External links

• Garry Disher's website

• Children's literature portal