Michael Robotham
Australian writer

Michael Robotham

The basics
Quick facts
Intro
Australian writer
Gender:
Male
Places:
Birth:
9 November 1960(Casino, Richmond Valley Council, New South Wales, Australia)
Biography menu
Menu

Jump to

Introduction Career Awards and nominations Interviews Neben der Spur - Television film series Germany, ZDF
The details
Biography

Introduction

Michael Robotham (born 9 November 1960) is an Australian crime fiction writer. His daughter is the ARIA and APRA Award nominated songwriter, producer and musician, Alex Hope.

Career

Robotham was born in Casino, New South Wales, and went to school in Gundagai and Coffs Harbour. In February 1979 he began a journalism cadetship on the Sydney afternoon newspaper The Sun.

In 1986, he went to London where he worked as a reporter and sub-editor for various UK national newspapers before becoming a staff feature writer on The Mail on Sunday in 1989. He rose to become deputy features editor before resigning in May 1993. He then became a ghostwriter, collaborating on fifteen "autobiographies" for people in the arts, politics, the military and sport. Twelve of these titles became Sunday Times bestsellers. In 1996 he returned to Australia with his family and continued writing full-time. In 2002, a partial manuscript of his first novel, The Suspect, became the subject of a bidding war at the London Book Fair. It was later translated into 22 languages and sold over a million copies around the world.

Awards and nominations

  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2005: winner for Lost
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2007: shortlisted for The Night Ferry
  • Crime Writers' Association (UK), The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, 2007: shortlisted for The Night Ferry
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2008: winner for Shatter
  • Crime Writers' Association (UK), The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, Best Thriller, 2008: shortlisted for Shatter
  • ITV Thriller Awards (UK), Breakthrough Novelist 2008: shortlisted for Shatter
  • Crime Writers' Association (UK), The CWA Gold Dagger, Best Crime Novel, 2013: shortlisted for Say You're Sorry
  • Crime Writers' Association (UK), The CWA Gold Dagger, Best Crime Novel, 2015: winner for Life or Death

    Interviews

    • "Shots ezine" [1] 2003
    • "The Advertiser" [2] June 26, 2007
    • "The Age" [3] August 19, 2007
    • "reviewingtheevidence" [4] Undated, possibly end 2007
    • "The Book Show" - discussion with Peter Temple [5] July 25, 2008

    Neben der Spur - Television film series Germany, ZDF

    • Adrenalin (The Suspect)2014
    • Amnesie (Drowned)2015