Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas (born 1965) is an Australian author of Greek heritage.^[1]

Biography

He was born and grew up in Melbourne with his Greek immigrant parents, and was educated at Blackburn High School and the University of Melbourne where he completed an Arts Degree in 1987.^[2] He edited the student newspaper Farrago in 1988.

Tsiolkas' first novel, Loaded (1995), was filmed as Head On (1998) by director Ana Kokkinos, starring Alex Dimitriades.^[3] In 2006, his novel, Dead Europe, won The Age Book of the Year fiction award and was adapted into a film in 2012. In 2009, his fourth novel, The Slap, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009 for best novel in the South-East Asia and South Pacific area.

He is a Richmond Football Club supporter,^[4] and openly gay.^[5]

Books

• Loaded (1995)
• Jump Cuts (with Sasha Soldatow, 1996)
• The Jesus Man (1999)
• The Devil's Playground (2002)
• Dead Europe (2005)
• The Slap (2008)
• Barracuda (2013)

Theatre

• Who's Afraid of the Working Class? (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 1999, adapted for film as Blessed)
• Elektra AD (1999)
• Viewing Blue Poles (2000)
• Fever (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 2002)
• Dead Caucasians (2002)
• Non Parlo di Salo (with Spiro Economopoulos, 2005)
• The Hit (with Netta Yashin 2006)

Screenplays

• Thug (with Spiro Economopoulos, 1998)
• Saturn's Return (2000)

2006 "The Hit" Parallelo Theatre

References

Reviews, interviews, articles

• Authers, Ben. "'I’m Not Australian, I’m Not Greek, I’m Not Anything': Identity and the Multicultural Nation in Christos Tsiolkas’s Loaded". JASAL 4 (2005): 133-146.
• Cañadas, Ivan. "A Sin That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Class and Sexuality in Christos Tsiolkas’s Loaded and Anna Kokkinos’s Head On", Overland 177 (Summer 2004): 43-7.
• Cañadas, Ivan."Exhuming History: Neo-Conservatism and Christos Tsiolkas’s Dead Europe (2005)". Cultural Logic: An Electronic Journal of Marxist Theory and Practice (2007)
• Dowse, Sara. Review of Dead Europe. "Blasphemous, Disturbing and Brilliant". The Canberra Times (18 June 2005): 13.
• Hunn, Deborah. "'It's not that I can't decide; I don’t like definitions': Queer in Australia in Christos Tsiolkas's Loaded and Anna Kokkinos's Head On". Territories of Desire in Queer Culture: Refiguring Contemporary Boundaries. Ed. David Alderson & Linda Anderson (Manchester & New York: Manchester UP, 2000), pp. 112–29.
• Joseph, Laura. "'Gardening in Hell': Abject Presence and Sublime Present in Dead Europe and The Vintner’s Luck". JASAL, Special Issue: "The Colonial Present: Australian Writing for the 21st Century". Eds. Gillian Whitlock & Victoria Kuttainen (2008): 105-13.
• Manne, Robert. Review of Dead Europe. "Dead Disturbing: A Bloodthirsty Tale that Plays with the Fire of Anti-Semitism". The Monthly (June 2005): 50–53.
• McCann, Andrew, Jeff Sparrow and Christen Cornell. "The Spectres Haunting Dead Europe". Overland 181 (2005): 26–31.
• McMahon, Elizabeth. "Lost in Music". Meanjin 2 (July 2000): 166-177. [Essay on music and dance in Loaded and Head On].
• McQueen, Humphrey. "Dead Europe . . ." Book Talk (Interviewed by Jill Kitson) Radio National (2 July 2005)
• Padmore, Catherine. "Blood and Land and ghosts': Haunting words in Christos Tsiolkas' Dead Europe" JASAL Special Issue 2007
• Rosenblatt, Les. Review of Dead Europe. "A Place Where Wolves Fuck". Arena 79 (2005): 46–48.
• Strong, Christopher. "Christos Tsiolkas - Sex, Drugs and Responsibility". ARTiculation (December 2009): 2-3.
• Syson, Ian. "Smells like Market Spirit: Grunge, Literature, Australia." Overland 142 (1996): 21–26.
• Syson, Ian. Review of Dead Europe. The Age (28 May 2005)
• Treagus, Mandy. "A Queer Kind of Belonging: Identity: Identity and Nation in Christos Tsiolkas's Loaded". CRNLE Journal (2000): 219-27.
• Tsiolkas, Christos. "Aleka Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: Some Musings on Suburbia, Migration and Film". Cinema Papers 117 (June 1997): 30-32.
• Tsiolkas, Christos and Patricia Cornelius. "Politics, Faith and Sex: Overland Lecture — Christos Tsiolkas in Conversation with Patricia Cornelius". Overland 181 (2005): 18–25.
• Tsiolkas interviewed by Gareth Beal about Dead Europe. Good Reading (July 2005): 26.
• Zabala-Notaras, Gabriela and Ismet Redzovic. Dead Europe review. "Writing Off Europe." World Socialist Web Site (16 November 2005)

External links

• Entry on Smartartists
• VIDEO Christos Tsiolkas talks with Leigh Sales about his writing process and 'The Slap' on ABC Fora