Jon Cleary

Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 1917 – 19 July 2010[1][2]) was an Australian author.

Contents

Biography

Cleary was born in Erskineville, Sydney. He wrote many books, among them The Sundowners (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and The High Commissioner (1966), the first of a long series of popular detective fiction works featuring Sydney Police Inspector Scobie Malone. A number of Cleary's works have been the subject of film or television adaptations.

Cleary enlisted in the Australian army on 27 May 1940 and was discharged on 10 October 1945 with the rank of lieutenant.[3] His first novel was the 1947 work, You Can't See 'Round Corners, which dwelt on the life of an army deserter wanted for the sensational murder of his girlfriend in wartime Sydney.

Cleary worked as a journalist for the Australia News and Information Bureau in London from 1948–49 and in New York from 1949–51. He travelled extensively and many of his novels were set in exotic locations.

Cleary's honours include the Australian Broadcasting Commission prize for radio drama in 1944, the Australian Literary Society's Crouch Medal for Best Australian Novel in 1950, an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel (Peter's Pence) in 1975, and the Australian Crime Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

He died on 19 July 2010, aged 92.

Awards

Bibliography

Novels

Short story collections

Films

Television adaptations

Notes

  1. ^ Malcolm Brown, Brisbane Times, 28 July 2010
  2. ^ The Reading Room, Vale to Jon Cleary, 27 July 2010
  3. ^ World War 2 Nominal Roll for Jon Cleary[1]
  4. ^ a b "Ned Kelly Awards". Australian Crime Fiction Database. http://www.crimedownunder.com/nedkellyawards.html. Retrieved 2007-09-15. 

External links