{{short description|Australian novelist, writer and academic (born 1958)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2015}} {{Infobox writer | name = Debra Adelaide | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age| 1958}} | birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Novelist | language = English | nationality = Australian | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | notableworks = | awards = | years_active = 1988– }} '''Debra Adelaide''' (born 1958) is an Australian novelist, writer and academic.<ref name="Austlit">{{cite web|title= Austlit — Debra Adelaide |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A22496|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> She teaches creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney.
==Biography== Adelaide was born in Sydney and grew up in the Sutherland Shire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/the-art-of-dying/2008/05/22/1211183000032.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2|title = The art of dying|date = 24 May 2008}}</ref> A contemporary of writers Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, she attended Gymea High School and then, via a teacher's scholarship, she completed a BA (Honours) and MA (Honours) in English literature at the University of Sydney. She then completed a PhD in Australian women's literature in 1991 there,<ref>{{cite book |last= Cusack|first= Dymphna|author-link= |date= |title= Yarn Spinners: A Story in Letters|url= |location= |publisher= University of Queensland Press|page= 422|isbn=0702231924}}</ref> and in the process completed her first book, a bibliography of Australian women's literature.
While studying, Debra Adelaide worked as a university tutor and research assistant, and afterwards became a freelance editor, author and book reviewer. She commenced writing fiction in the early 1990s and her first novel, ''The Hotel Albatross'', was published in 1995.
She is currently an associate professor in creative practice at the University of Technology Sydney, where she teaches in the undergraduate communication program and teaches and supervises postgraduate creative writing.
She was married until 2003 and has three children.
==Works== Adelaide has published novels, anthologies and reference books on Australian literature. Her novels are ''The Household Guide to Dying'' (Picador:2008), ''The Hotel Albatross'' (Vintage: 1995) and ''Serpent Dust'' (Vintage: 1998). She has published two collections of short fiction, entitled ''Zebra: and other stories'' (Picador: 2019) and ''Letter to George Clooney'' (Picador: 2013) and also contributed to and edited the anthology ''Acts of Dogs'' (Vintage: 2003) in which leading Australian and New Zealand authors have written stories and memoirs on the theme of dogs, and the ''Motherlove'' series of anthologies (Random House: 1996; 1997; 1998).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.readings.com.au/collection/debra-adelaide | title=Debra Adelaide — Readings Books }}</ref>
''Zebra'' won the 2019 University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/writing-and-publishing/jinghua-qian/winners-announced-for-the-2019-queensland-literary-awards-259209|title=Winners announced for the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards|last=Qian|first=Jinghua|date=12 November 2019|website=ArtsHub Australia|language=en-au|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112160433/https://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/writing-and-publishing/jinghua-qian/winners-announced-for-the-2019-queensland-literary-awards-259209 |archive-date=12 November 2019 |access-date=2019-11-13}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Novels=== * ''The Hotel Albatross'' (1995)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''The Hotel Albatross'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher=National Library of Australia|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/690850|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''Serpent Dust'' (1998)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Serpent Dust'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1720766|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''The Household Guide to Dying'' (2008)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''The Household Guide to Dying'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4313939|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''The Women's Pages'' (2015)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''The Women's Pages'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/6890730|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref>
===Short stories=== * ''Letter to George Clooney'' (2013)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Letter to George Clooney'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/6259354|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''Zebra'' (2019)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Zebra'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/7860593|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref>
===Non-fiction=== * ''Australian Women Writers: A Bibliographic Guide'' (Pandora, 1988)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Australian Women Writers: A Bibliographic Guide'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/307832|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''The Innocent Reader: Reflections on Reading and Writing'' (2019)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''The Innocent Reader: Reflections on Reading and Writing'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/8071053|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * {{cite book|last=Adelaide|first=Debra|author-mask=0|title=When I Am Sixty-Four|date=April 2026|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=9780702271168|ref=none}} Autofiction about her friendship with, and the death of, Gabrielle Carey.
===As editor=== * ''A Window in the Dark'' (1991).<ref>{{cite web|title= ''A Window in the Dark'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2965650|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> Autobiography of Dymphna Cusack * ''Motherlove: Stories About Births, Babies and Beyond'' (1996)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Motherlove: Stories about Births, Babies and Beyond'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/978680|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''Motherlove 2: More Stories About Births, Babies and Beyond'' (1997)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Motherlove 2: More Stories About Births, Babies and Beyond'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2962712|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''A Bright and Fiery Troop: Australian Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century'' (1998)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''A Bright and Fiery Troop'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/356518|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''Cutting the Cord: Stories of Children, Love and Loss'' (1998)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Cutting the Cord'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1823462|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''Acts of Dog: Writers on the Canine Divine'' (2003)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Acts Of Dog: Writers on the Canine Divine'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3048632|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> * ''The Simple Act of Reading'' (2015)<ref>{{cite web|title= ''The Simple Act of Reading'' by Debra Adelaide|type=catalogue entry|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/7286340|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref>
==Awards== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Work !! Prize !! Category !! Result !! Ref |- ! rowspan="2" | 2014 | rowspan="2" | ''Letter to George Clooney'' || Nita Kibble Literary Awards || Nita B Kibble Literary Award || {{Sho}} || <ref>{{cite web |title=Kristina Olsson wins Kibble literary award for true tale of a lost child|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2014/jul/24/kristina-olsson-wins-kibble-literary-award-for-true-tale-of-a-lost-child |access-date=21 June 2024|work=The Guardian|date=24 July 2014}}</ref> |- | Stella Prize|| — || {{nom|Longlisted}} || <ref>{{Cite web |title=Stella Longlist 2014 |url=https://stella.org.au/prize/2014-prize/longlist-2014/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223180051/https://stella.org.au/prize/2014-prize/longlist-2014/ |archive-date=23 February 2023 |access-date=21 June 2024 |website=Stella |language=en-US}}</ref> |- ! rowspan="2" |2016 | rowspan="2" |''The Women's Pages'' |Nita Kibble Literary Awards |Nita B Kibble Literary Award |{{Nominated|Lonlisted}} | |- | Stella Prize || — || {{nom|Longlisted}} || <ref name="..">{{cite web|title="Stella Prize – Past prize Winners" |publisher= The Stella Prize|url=https://stella.org.au/past-prize-winners/|access-date= 21 June 2024}}</ref> |- ! 2019 | ''Zebra'' || Queensland Literary Awards || Steele Rudd Award || {{won}} || <ref name=":0" /> |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Literature}} {{Authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelaide, Debra}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century Australian novelists Category:21st-century Australian novelists Category:Australian freelance journalists Category:People from the Sutherland Shire Category:Writers from New South Wales Category:21st-century Australian women novelists Category:Australian Book Review people Category:20th-century Australian women academics Category:20th-century Australian women novelists Category:Writers from Sydney