The pre-eminent Australian novelist of his generation, Tim Winton was born in Western Australia in 1960. He was educated in Perth, Albany (in the southwest of WA) and at the Western Australian Institute of Technology.

His literary reputation was established early when his first novel, AN OPEN SWIMMER, won the 1981 Australian/Vogel Award; his second novel SHALLOWS, won the 1984 Miles Franklin Award; and his third book, SCISSION, a collection of short stories, won the 1985 West Australian Council Literary Award.

CLOUDSTREET has been named the most popular Australian novel by readers as diverse as buyers at the chain store Dymocks and the Australian Society of Authors. CLOUDSTREET’s awards include the 1991 National Book Council Banjo Award for fiction; the 1991 West Australian Fiction Award; the 1991 Deo Gloria Award (UK) and the 1992 Miles Franklin Award.

His work has been translated into numerous languages including Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

His most recent novel DIRT MUSIC was shortlisted for the 2002 Booker Prize and won the 2002 Miles Franklin Award, the West Australian Fiction Award and the Christina Stead Award for Fiction. The film rights have been optioned to Phil Noyce’s film company, Rumbalara Films (Australia).

Tim Winton lives in Western Australia with his wife and three children.

See also: www.thelastwhale.blogspot.com

'At once exquisite and unsettling, brimming with imagery so lush and observations so precise the book is almost incandescent' - The Bulletin

From the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of DIRT MUSIC and CLOUDSTREET comes an outstanding work of fiction - one of the publishing events of the year.

Tim Winton is undisputedly one of the finest storytellers working in the English language. Now he gives us seventeen brilliant, overlapping stories of second thoughts and mid-life regret - extraordinary tales of ordinary people from ordinary places. Here are turnings of all kinds - changes of heart, nasty surprises, slow awakenings, sudden detours - where people struggle against the terrible weight of the past and challenge the lives they've made for themselves.

Brilliantly crafted, and as tender as it is confronting, THE TURNING dissects and celebrates the moments when the light shines through.