Debra Oswald

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Debra Oswald (born 1959) is an Australian writer for film, television, stage, radio and children's fiction.

She began writing as a teenager. Her first play was workshopped at the 1977 Australian National Playwrights Conference when she was 17, and then broadcast on ABC Radio. She studied at the Australian National University and at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and has since made her living as a writer for film, television, stage and radio as well as publishing a number of novels for children. She lives in Sydney with the author and radio personality Richard Glover; they have two sons.

Her best-known play, Dags, has had many productions around Australia and has been published and performed in Britain and the United States. Debra’s other plays include Going Under, produced by Adelaide’s Troupe Theatre in 1983, and Lumps, which premiered at the Q Theatre in 1993. In 1996, a co-production of Debra’s play Gary’s House by Playbox and the Q Theatre played in Melbourne, Penrith and the Gold Coast. There have also been productions in Adelaide, Hobart, Newcastle, Canberra and Hjoerring, Denmark. Gary's House is on the New South Wales Year 12 drama syllabus. In 2000, her play Sweet Road was presented in Melbourne and Adelaide in a Playbox/STC of SA co production, and in Sydney by the Ensemble Theatre. Sweet Road, Gary’s House and "The Peach Season" were all short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. Mr Bailey's Minder and The Peach Season both premiered at Griffin Theatre Company. "Mr Bailey's Minder" toured nationally in 2006 and will premiere in the United States in 2008 at The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.

She is a prolific writer of Australian television series. These include the mini series Palace of Dreams (1985) as well as Dancing Daze (1986), Police Rescue (1991), Bananas in Pyjamas (1992), Wildside (1997), The Secret Life of Us (2001), and Outriders (2001). Her Police Rescue scripts have been nominated for AFI, AWGIE and State Library awards.

Debra is also the author of the children's novels Me and Barry Terrific (1987) and The Return of the Baked Bean (1990) and The Fifth Quest (2002). She has also written three Aussie Bites - Nathan and the Ice Rockets (1998), Frank and the Emergency Joke (2000), and "Frank and the Secret Club". The Redback Leftovers (2000) is an entertaining story for upper primary students about the debut season of the worst soccer team ever. It has been republished in 2007. Her most recent novel for children is "Getting Air" (2007). She has written two plays for the Australian Theatre for Young People - "Skate", which toured to the Belfast Festival, and "Stories in the Dark".

Contents

[edit] Awards

  • Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Drama Script (Stage) Award, 2005: shortlisted for Mr Bailey's Minder
  • Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting, 2004: winner for Mr Bailey's Minder
  • Seaborn Playwright's Prize for "The Peach Season" (2005)

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Plays

  • Dags (Currency Press, 1987)
  • The Two-way Mirror [manuscript] [1]
  • Our Hopeful Youth [manuscript]: a radio play with music in three scenes[2]
  • Lumps (1993)
  • Gary's house (Currency Press in association with the Playbox Theatre Centre, 1996)
  • Sweet road (Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre, 2000)
  • Skate (Currency Press, 2004)
  • Mr Bailey's Minder (Currency Press, 2005)
  • The Peach Season (Currency Press, 2007)
  • Stories in the Dark (2007)

[edit] Children's Books

  • Me and Barry Terrific (Oxford University Press, 1987)
  • The return of the Baked Bean (Puffin, 1991)
  • Nathan and the ice rockets (Puffin Books, 1998) with Matthew Martin
  • The Redback Leftovers (Puffin, 2000)
  • Frank and the emergency joke (Puffin, 2000) with Stephen Axelsen
  • Frank and the secret club (Puffin Books, 2005) with Matthew Martin
  • The fifth quest (Puffin, 2002)
  • Getting air (Random House Australia, 2007)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Australian Library Collection. Libraries Australia. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
  2. ^ Australian Library Collection. Libraries Australia. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.


[edit] References

  • Leser, David. The two of us: Debra Oswald & Richard Glover Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend - 13 December 1997 p.12