Trent Dalton | |
|---|---|
 Dalton in 2018 | |
| Born | 1979 (age 44–45) Ipswich, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable works | Boy Swallows Universe All Our Shimmering Skies Love Stories Lola in the Mirror |
| Notable awards | ABIA Awards Indie Book Awards MUD Literary Prize Walkley Awards |
| Spouse | Fiona Franzmann |
| Children | 2 |
Trent Dalton (born 1979) [1] is an Australian novelist and journalist. He is best known for his 2018 semi-autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe .
Dalton was born in Ipswich, Queensland, the youngest of four sons. [2] [3] He spent his early childhood living with his mother and stepfather in Brassall. [2] Both sold heroin and spent time in jail. [4] When he was seven years old, his mother was sent to prison for two years for smuggling drugs. Dalton spent the following 12 months living with his paternal grandparents. [1] After that he lived with his father in a Housing Commission house in Bracken Ridge, a suburb on the northern outskirts of Brisbane. [5] [6] For a few years in their teens, Dalton and one of his brothers lived with his mother. [1]
After high school, Dalton studied journalism for one year at University of Southern Queensland then another year at Queensland University of Technology. [7] [5] In 2024 Dalton became an honorary fellow at University of Southern Queensland. [8]
After being recommended by a QUT tutor, Dalton was hired in 2000 as a writer for Brisbane News, a free weekly magazine. [3] [6] He then worked as a journalist for The Courier-Mail . [3] As of April 2024 [update] , he works as a staff writer for The Weekend Australian Magazine . [9]
In 2011 Dalton published Detours: Stories from the Street, a book containing profiles of 20 people he had interviewed who were living on the street, or at risk of becoming homeless. [6] [10]
In 2018 he published the semi-autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe through 4th Estate, [11] [12] which was longlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award. [13] In May 2019 the television adaptation rights for Boy Swallows Universe were secured by Anonymous Content, Chapter One and Hopscotch Features. [14] A seven-episode limited series was commissioned by Netflix and released in January 2024. [15] The Queensland Theatre Company also developed a play from the novel, [16] [17] which premiered in September 2021 at the Brisbane Festival. [18]
In 2020 Dalton published his second novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, which is also centred around words and storytelling. [19] In 2021, Dalton published Love Stories, a collection of love stories gathered from interviews with people. [20]
Dalton's third novel, Lola in the Mirror, was released in October 2023. [21]
Dalton has two daughters with his wife Fiona. [3]
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.
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The MUD Literary Prize is an Australian literary award awarded annually at Adelaide Writers' Week since 2018 to a debut literary novel. It is sponsored by a philanthropic organisation, the MUD Literary Club, which was founded in 2012.
Boy Swallows Universe is an Australian coming of age television limited series for Netflix based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Trent Dalton. Produced by Andrew Mason and Troy Lum and written by John Collee, the story revolves around Eli Bell, a working-class youth who enters Brisbane's underworld to save his mother from danger. It features an ensemble cast led by Travis Fimmel, Phoebe Tonkin, Felix Cameron, Lee Tiger Halley, Zac Burgess, Simon Baker, Bryan Brown, Anthony LaPaglia and Sophie Wilde.
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Boy Swallows Universe is the debut novel by Australian writer Trent Dalton. It was originally published by Fourth Estate in Australia in 2018.
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