Almanac of Story Tellers: Peter Carey

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of  May 7th

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    It is the 127th day of the year, leaving 238 days remaining in 2022.

    On this date in 1943, the Australian novelist Peter Carey was born outside of Melbourne.

   

    Carey tells stories of his native land through his works. He uses the surreal, the macabre, and a touch of black humor in his short stories and novels. 

    He has written about modern Australia, explored its origins and folk heroes, and told tales of its downtrodden or outlandish characters.

    He has won the Booker Prize twice -- one of only five novelists to do so.

    His first Booker was in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda, about a pair of gamblers, one a priest, one a heiress, who make a bet about transporting an item in mid-19th Australia. The second was for the True History of the Kelly Gang, a fictional account about the Australian outlaw-turned-folk-hero Ned Kelly.

    Carey also examined racism in 1950s Australia in A Long Way From Home. Two of his characters traveled to America and the New World in Parrot and Olivier in America. In two other novels, My Life as a Fake and Theft: A Love Story, Carey dealt with fraud and authenticity in literature, art, and life.

    He currently teaches at Hunter College and lives in New York City.