His novels and short stories have been widely translated, won many national and international prizes and been adapted for film, television, radio and theatre.

Winner of the 2000 WA Premier's non-fiction book award.

The Shark Net, a vibrant and haunting memoir that reaches beyond the dark recesses of murder and chaos to encompass their ordinary suburban backdrop. In Robert Drewe’s hands, a whole time and region come to vivid life. Extraordinarily moving, surprisingly humorous and beautifully observed, The Shark Net shows one of Australia’s most acclaimed writers charting new and exciting territory. ‘In this magnificent and haunting memoir of murder, sharks and rubber goods, Robert Drewe proves himself too subtle and too adventurous a writer to settle for “the truth, plain and simple”. He creates instead a resurrection of his boyhood in Australia which is as ornamented, engaging and ambitious as any great novel.’ – Jim Crace.

"Carmen's flawless performance includes a deliveryman with a cleft palate, a drunk on the beach, and Drewe's middle-class parents. Excellent"

 

"In this magnificent and haunting memoir of murder, sharks and rubber goods, Robert Drewe proves himself too subtle and too adventurous a writer to settle for 'the truth, plain and simple'. He creates instead a resurrection of his boyhood in Australia which is as ornamented, engaging and ambitious as any great novel."

 

Robert Drewe was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1943. He grew up and was educated in Western Australia where he won the Walkley Award (Australia’s highest such award) for journalism in 1976 and 1981. His novels and short stories have been widely translated, won many national and international prizes and been adapted for film, television, radio and the theatre. He has also written plays, screenplays, journalism and film criticism and edited two international anthologies of stories. He’s a writer who crafts vibrant, powerful and vivid stories, and is the author of a number of books: The Bodysurfers, The Shark Net, Grace, and the Ned Kelly story Our Sunshine was made into a movie starring Geoffrey Rush, Heath Ledger and Naomi Watts.