Peter Corris

{{Short description|Australian writer}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Peter Corris | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Peter Robert Corris | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1942|05|08}} | birth_place = Stawell, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2018|08|30|1942|05|08}} | death_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | years_active = 1973-2017 | occupation = Writer}}

'''Peter Robert Corris''' (8 May 1942 – 30 August 2018)<ref name="Auslit_sampleonly_Corris">{{cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/common/samples/Corris.html|title=Corris, Peter|date=28 March 2008|publisher=austlit.edu.au|access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref><ref name="TheAge_Entertainment_Books_30Aug2003_Coupe_Corris">{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/27/1061663846146.html|title=Crime and the Corris Factor|last=Coupe|first=Stuart|date=30 August 2003|publisher=The Age|access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/peter-corris-the-godfather-of-australian-crime-fiction-has-died-20180830-h14qj6.html,|title=Peter Corris, the godfather of Australian crime fiction, has died}}</ref> was an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical<ref name="ABC_RadioNational_BooksandWriiting_09Oct2005_Corris">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/bwriting/stories/s1475844.htm|title=The Journal of Fletcher Christian|last=Koval|first=Ramona|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref> and crime fiction.<ref name="ABC_RadioNational_TheBookShow_19Jun2007_Corris">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2007/1954123.htm|title=Australian Crime-Writer Peter Corris|last=Koval|first=Ramona|date=18 June 2007|publisher=Radio National|access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref> As crime fiction writer, he was described as "the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-writing", particularly for his Cliff Hardy novels.<ref name="ABC_RadioNational_TheBookShow_19Jun2007_Corris"/>

==Biography== Corris' secondary school education was at Melbourne High School.<ref name="TheAge_Entertainment_Books_30Aug2003_Coupe_Corris"/><ref name="FantasticFiction.co.uk_aboutPeterCorris">{{cite web|url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/peter-corris|title=FantasticFiction: Peter Corris|publisher=fantasticfiction.co.uk|access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref> He was a Bachelor level student at the University of Melbourne, then gained a Master of Arts in history at Monash University.<ref name="TheAge_Entertainment_Books_30Aug2003_Coupe_Corris"/> He studied at the Australian National University where he was awarded a PhD in history on the topic of the South Seas Islander slave trade (Kanakas).<ref name="Auslit_sampleonly_Corris"/> He continued these studies as a university lecturer, but later became a journalist, being a literary editor of the ''National Times''. He recalled "I got sick of the literary editor shit. I got fucking sick of new books, beautiful new hardbacks flowing in every week in their dust covers, filling the cupboard up. For the first year or so I thought, “This is heaven.”... It was a dream job for 18 months but it got to the stage where I hated the look of a new book."<ref name="pulp"/>

The first Cliff Hardy book was ''The Dying Trade''. Corris later recalled "I’d already finished the second one because I enjoyed doing the first one so much, and had started a third one, and well, the ball just got rolling, even though it took about 5 years for the first one to get published."<ref name="pulp">{{cite web|url=https://www.pulpcurry.com/2018/09/a-sit-down-with-the-godfather-an-interview-with-peter-corris/|website=Pulp Curry|first=Andrew|last=Nette|date=September 2013|title=A sit down with the Godfather: an interview with Peter Corris|access-date=11 February 2025|archive-date=11 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211055731/https://www.pulpcurry.com/2018/09/a-sit-down-with-the-godfather-an-interview-with-peter-corris/|url-status=dead}} republished 1 September 2018, originally published in Crime Journal</ref>

He was married to writer Jean Bedford.<ref name="The Sydney Morning Herald – 20 April 2009 – Life writes its way into character">{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/books/life-writes-its-way-into-character/2009/04/20/1240079580762.html?page=fullpage|title=Life Writes Its Way into Character|last=McEvoy|first=Marc|date=20 April 2009|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=2 April 2016}}</ref>

Peter Corris wrote a book that provided deep insights into his life living with type-1 diabetes.<ref>Corris, Peter (2000). Sweet & Sour: A Diabetic Life. Lismore, NSW: Southern Cross University Press. {{ISBN|1875855467}}.</ref> Some of his novels have diabetic subplots. In January 2017, Corris announced that he would no longer be writing novels owing to 'creeping blindness' because of his diabetes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/peter-corris-calls-time-on-the-iconic-fictional-detective-cliff-hardy-20161215-gtbp32.html|title=Peter Corris Calls Time on the Iconic Fictional Detective Cliff Hardy|last=Morris|first=Linda|date=8 January 2017|website=The Age|access-date=10 June 2017}}</ref>

==Awards and achievements== *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Lifetime Achievement, 1999: winner<ref>{{Cite web |title=1999 Ned Kelly Award Winners |url=http://www.austcrimewriters.com/ned-kelly-award-winners/1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327181222/http://www.austcrimewriters.com/ned-kelly-award-winners/5 |archive-date=2016-03-27 |access-date=24 April 2025 |website=Australian Crime Writers}}</ref> *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2004: nominated for ''Master's Mates''<ref>{{cite web|title= Austlit — ''Master's Mates'' by Peter Corris – Awards |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C480695?mainTabTemplate=workAwards|access-date= 24 April 2025}}</ref> *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2006: shortlisted for ''Saving Billie''<ref>{{cite web|title= Austlit — ''Saving Billie'' by Peter Corris – Awards |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C554698?mainTabTemplate=workAwards|access-date= 24 April 2025}}</ref> *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2007: shortlisted for ''The Undertow''<ref>{{cite web|title= Austlit — ''The Undertow'' by Peter Corris – Awards |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C596845?mainTabTemplate=workAwards|access-date= 24 April 2025}}</ref> *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2008: nominated for ''Appeal Denied''<ref>{{cite web|title= Austlit — ''Appeal Denied'' by Peter Corris – Awards |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C616867?mainTabTemplate=workAwards|access-date= 24 April 2025}}</ref> *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2008: nominated for ''Open File''<ref>{{cite web|title= Austlit — ''Open File'' by Peter Corris – Awards |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C652992?mainTabTemplate=workAwards|access-date= 24 April 2025}}</ref> *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2009: winner for ''Deep Water''<ref>{{Cite web |title=2009 Ned Kelly Award Winners |url=http://www.austcrimewriters.com/ned-kelly-award-winners/1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327181222/http://www.austcrimewriters.com/ned-kelly-award-winners/15 |archive-date=2016-03-27 |access-date=24 April 2025 |website=Australian Crime Writers}}</ref>

==Partial list of books== [[File:Peter Corris plaque in Sydney Writers Walk.jpg|thumb|Corris' plaque on the Sydney Writers Walk]]

===Cliff Hardy novels=== * ''The Dying Trade'' (McGraw-Hill, 1980); {{ISBN|0-070-7292-8X}} * ''White Meat'' (Sydney, Pan Books, 1981); {{ISBN|0-330-27018-4}} * ''The Marvellous Boy'' (Sydney, Pan Books, 1982); {{ISBN|0-330-27019-2}} * ''The Empty Beach'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1983); {{ISBN|0-86861-229-4}} * ''Heroin Annie and Other Cliff Hardy Stories'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1984); {{ISBN|0-86861-399-1}} * ''Make Me Rich'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1985); {{ISBN|0-86861-660-5}} * ''The Big Drop, and Other Cliff Hardy Stories'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1985); {{ISBN|0-86861-767-9}} * ''The Greenwich Apartments'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1986); {{ISBN|0-04-820030-1}} * ''Deal Me Out'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1986); {{ISBN|0-86861-978-7}} * ''The January Zone'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1987); {{ISBN|0-04-200050-5}} * ''Man in the Shadows : A Short Novel and Six Stories'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1988); {{ISBN|0-04-320226-8}} * ''O'Fear'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1990); {{ISBN|0-947189-73-4}}<ref name="NLA_CorrisHoldings_Bantam">{{cite web|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2170708|title=O'Fear|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref> * ''Wet Graves'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1991); {{ISBN|1-86359-025-0}} * ''Aftershock'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1991); {{ISBN|1-86359-028-5}} * ''Beware of the Dog'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1992); {{ISBN|1-86359-054-4}} * ''Burn and Other Stories'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1993); {{ISBN|1-86359-069-2}} * ''Matrimonial Causes'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1993); {{ISBN|1-86359-077-3}} * ''Casino'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1994); {{ISBN|1-86359-113-3}} * ''The Washington Club'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1997); {{ISBN|0-7338-0031-9}} * ''Forget Me If You Can: Cliff Hardy Stories'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1997); {{ISBN|0-7338-0066-1}} * ''The Reward'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1997); {{ISBN|0-7338-0070-X}} * ''The Black Prince'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1998); {{ISBN|1-86325-132-4}} * ''The Other Side of Sorrow'' (Sydney, Bantam, 1999); {{ISBN|1-86325-185-5}} * ''Lugarno'' (Sydney, Bantam, 2001); {{ISBN|1-86325-298-3}} * ''Salt and Blood'' (Sydney, Bantam, 2002); {{ISBN|1-86325-374-2}} * ''Master's Mates'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2003); {{ISBN|1-74114-136-2}} * ''The Coast Road'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2004); {{ISBN|1-74114-384-5}} * ''Taking Care of Business: Cliff Hardy Cases'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2004); {{ISBN|1-74114-419-1}} * ''Saving Billie'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2005); {{ISBN|1-74115-621-1}} * ''The Undertow'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2006); {{ISBN|978-1-74114-748-3}} * ''Appeal Denied'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2007); {{ISBN|978-1-74175-096-6}}<ref>{{Citation | author1=Corris, Peter | title=Appeal denied : [No. 31 : Cliff Hardy novels] | date=June 2007 | publication-date=2007 | publisher=Allen & Unwin | isbn=978-1-74175-096-6 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/appealdenied0000corr}}</ref> * ''The Big Score: Cliff Hardy Cases'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2007); {{ISBN|978-1-74175-223-6}} * ''Open File'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2008); {{ISBN|978-1-74175-417-9}} * ''Deep Water'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2009); {{ISBN|978-1-74175-677-7}} * ''Torn Apart'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2010); {{ISBN|978-1-74237-536-6}} * ''Follow the Money'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2011); {{ISBN|978-1-74237-379-9}} * ''Comeback'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2012); {{ISBN|978-1-74237-724-7}} * ''The Dunbar Case'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2013); {{ISBN|978-1-74331-022-9}} * ''Silent Kill'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2014); {{ISBN|978-1-74331-637-5}} * ''Gun Control'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2015); {{ISBN|978-1-76011-206-6}} * ''That Empty Feeling'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2016); {{ISBN|978-1-76011-207-3}} * ''Win, Lose or Draw'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2017); {{ISBN|978-1-76029-478-6}}

===Ray Crawley novels=== * ''Pokerface'' (Melbourne, Penguin, 1985); {{ISBN|0-14-008587-4}} * ''The Baltic Business'' (Melbourne, Penguin, 1988); {{ISBN|0-14-010842-4}} * ''The Kimberly Killing'' (Melbourne, Penguin, 1988); {{ISBN|0-14-011506-4}} * ''The Cargo Club'' (Melbourne, Penguin, 1990); {{ISBN|0-14-012803-4}} * ''The Azanian Action'' (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1991); {{ISBN|0-207-17213-7}} * ''The Japanese Job'' (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1992); {{ISBN|0-207-17528-4}} * ''The Time Trap'' (Sydney, HarperCollins, 1994); {{ISBN|0-7322-5016-1}} * ''The Vietnam Volunteer'' (Lismore, NSW, Southern Cross University Press, 2000); {{ISBN|1-875855-45-9}}

===Richard Browning novels=== * ''Box Office Browning'' (Melbourne, Viking, 1987); {{ISBN|0-670-81696-5}} * ''Beverly Hills Browning'' (Melbourne, Penguin, 1987); {{ISBN|0-14-010739-8}} * ''Browning Takes Off'' (Melbourne, Penguin, 1989); {{ISBN|0-14-012159-5}} * ''Browning in Buckskin'' (Melbourne, Penguin, 1991); {{ISBN|0-14-014699-7}} * ''Browning P.I.'' (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1992); {{ISBN|0-207-17415-6}} * ''Browning Battles On'' (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1993); {{ISBN|0-207-17613-2}} * ''Browning Sahib'' (Sydney, HarperCollins, 1994); {{ISBN|0-7322-5043-9}} * ''Browning Without a Cause'' (Sydney, ETT Imprint, 1995); {{ISBN|1-875892-22-2}}

===Luke Dunlop novels=== * ''Set Up'' (Sydney, Pan Macmillan, 1992); {{ISBN|0-330-27342-6}} * ''Cross Off'' (Sydney, Pan Macmillan, 1993); {{ISBN|0-330-27385-X}} * ''Get Even'' (Sydney, Pan Macmillan, 1994); {{ISBN|0-330-27478-3}}

==Other works== * ''Passage, Port and Plantation: A History of Solomon Islands Labour Migration, 1870-1914'' (Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1973); {{ISBN|0-522-84050-7}} * ''Lords of the Ring'' (Sydney, Cassell Australia, 1980); {{ISBN|0-7269-1406-1}} * ''Lightning Meets the West Wind: The Malaita Massacre'', by Roger M. Keesing & Peter Corris (Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1980); {{ISBN|0-19-554223-1}} * ''The National Times Australian Book of Quizzes'', by Jean Bedford & Peter Corris (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1983); {{ISBN|0-86861-094-1}} * ''The Winning Side'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1984); {{ISBN|0-86861-785-7}} * ''The Australian Family Quiz Book'' (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1985); {{ISBN|0-207-15060-5}} * ''The Gulliver Fortune'' (Sydney, Bantam Books, 1989); {{ISBN|0-947189-81-5}} * ''Naismith's Dominion'' (Sydney, Bantam Books, 1990); {{ISBN|1-86359-017-X}} * ''Fred Hollows: An Autobiography'', by Fred Hollows with Peter Corris (Melbourne, John Kerr, 1991); {{ISBN|0-9588004-6-4}} * ''The Brothers Craft'' (Sydney, Bantam Books, 1992); {{ISBN|1-86359-053-6}} * ''Fighting for Fraser Island: A Man and an Island'', by John Sinclair with Peter Corris (Sydney, Kerr Publishing, 1994); {{ISBN|1-875703-16-0}} * ''Wimmera Gold'' (Sydney, Bantam Books, 1994); {{ISBN|1-86359-258-X}} * ''A Round of Golf: 18 Holes with Peter Corris'' (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1998); {{ISBN|1-86448-853-0}} * ''Petro-Pirates: The Hijacking of the Petro Ranger'', by Ken Blyth with Peter Corris (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2000); {{ISBN|1-86508-368-2}} * ''Sweet & Sour: A Diabetic Life'' (Lismore, NSW, Southern Cross University Press, 2000); {{ISBN|1-875855-46-7}} * ''The Journal of Fletcher Christian: Together with the History of Henry Corkill'' (Sydney, Random House Australia, 2005); {{ISBN|1-74051-351-7}} * ''Blood Brothers'' (Sydney, Lothian Books, 2007; {{ISBN|978-0-734-41006-1}} * ''Wishart's Quest'' (Melbourne, Arcadia, 2009); {{ISBN|978-1-921-50954-4}} * ''The Colonial Queen'' (Melbourne, Arcadia, 2011); {{ISBN|978-1-921-87531-1}} * ''Mad Dog: William Cyril Moxley and the Moorebank Killings'' (Sydney, University of New South Wales Press, 2011); {{ISBN|978-1-742-23286-7}} * ''Standing in the Shadow: Three Novellas'' (Melbourne, Arcadia, 2013); {{ISBN|978-1-921-87532-8}} * ''Damned If I Do'', by Philip Nitschke with Peter Corris (Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 2013); {{ISBN|978-0-522-86141-9}}

==Edited== * ''The Picador Book of Golf'', edited by Peter Corris & Jamie Grant (Sydney, Picador, 1995); {{ISBN|0-330-35692-5}} * ''Ringside: A Knockout Collection of Fights & Fighters: The Winners, the Losers, the Legends'', edited by Peter Corris & Barry Parish (Sydney, Random House Australia, 1996); {{ISBN|0-09-183333-7}} * ''Menace in the Mulga'' (Brisbane, Crime Writers Queensland, 2000); {{ISBN|0-9585413-2-9}} * ''Heart Matters: Personal Stories About That Heart-Stopping Moment'', edited by Peter Corris & Michael Wilding (Melbourne, Viking, 2010); {{ISBN|978-0-670-07385-6}} * ''Best on Ground: Great Writers on the Greatest Game'', edited by Peter Corris & John Dale (Melbourne, Viking, 2010); {{ISBN|978-0-670-07460-0}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.petercorris.net/ The Peter Corris website] * [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sharman-james-jimmy-8398 Corris and Langmores' biography of Jimmy Sharman (1887–1965)] * [http://www.middlemiss.org/matilda/2007/04/australian-literary-1.html Peter Corris plaque] in the "Writers Walk", Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corris, Peter}} Category:1942 births Category:2018 deaths Category:20th-century Australian male writers Category:20th-century Australian novelists Category:21st-century Australian male writers Category:21st-century Australian novelists Category:Australian crime fiction writers Category:Australian journalists Category:Australian male journalists Category:Australian male novelists Category:Australian mystery writers Category:Ned Kelly Award winners Category:People from Stawell, Victoria Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Writers from Victoria (state)