Nicole Bourke

Nicole (Nike) Sulway, nee Bourke (born September 1968) is an Australian novelist.

Career

Bourke was the 2000 winner of the Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Best Emerging Author for The Bone Flute. She has also written The True Green of Hope as well as the children's picture book What The Sky Knows (illustrated by Stella Danalis). She was the winner of the QLD Premier's Literary Award, short-listed for two Children's Book Council of Australia awards, and was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Asia Pacific Region. She completed an undergraduate degree in literature and theatre at Griffith University, gained First Class Honours and the University Medal, and subsequently completed a doctorate in Creative Writing (2002) at the same university. Her doctoral thesis was title From the Cradle to the Grave: A History of Infanticide and included the novel The Bone Flute.

She has published widely, both nationally and internationally as a short fiction writer, and as a reviewer and non-fiction writer, contributing articles to The Australian, Griffith Review and the Courier Mail. She has acted as a literary judge for the QLD Premier's Literary Awards, now the Queensland Literary Awards and The James Tiptree Award. She has a PhD from Griffith University and a strong background in academic research and writing . She works in the School of Arts and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland.

Nicole Bourke was on the program to appear in 2 events at the 2017 Brisbane Writers Festival in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia as Nike Sulway.[1][2]

Bibliography

Novels

  • The Bone Flute as N A Bourke (2001)
  • The True Green of Hope as N A Bourke (2005)
  • Rupetta (2013)
  • "Dying in the First Person" (2016)

Picture books

  • What the Sky Knows (2005)

The Bone Flute

The Bone Flute by N. A. Bourke

This novel won the 2000 QLD Premier's Literary Award for an emerging author in 2000. It was published by University of Queensland Press in 2001 and was subsequently short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers Award in the Best First Book category. The novel is set in rural Australia and in Sydney. It is told in first person, from the viewpoint of the young woman Germaine. The "Stirling Library" catalogue describes this book as "A mesmerizing novel that confronts our assumptions about choice and responsibility. It takes us deep into the psyche of a young woman unable to escape domestic abuse."[3]

The True Green of Hope

Published by UQP in 2005. Google books describe this novel as "examining the complex relationship between mothers and daughters, this provocative novel explores the nature of love and memory and how they shape truth". An extract of the first chapter is available on Bourke’s website.

What the Sky Knows

Published by UQP in 2005. Illustrated by Stella Danalis. Written for the author's daughter as a birthday gift, this book was shortlisted for two categories in the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards in 2005. The University of Queensland Press describes this book as "a book of wonder, curiosity, and imagination". A review is available from "Books from My Backyard" at http://www.queenslandbooks.com/schools/01_cms/details.asp?ID=36.

Rupetta

This speculative fiction novel tells the story of an automaton created in 1619, named Rupetta, who is linked to a series of female 'wynders'. The novel won the 2013 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2014 Norma K Hemming Award, and was shortlisted for both a 2014 Crawford Memorial Award, and a 2014 Aurealis Award. It was published in Britain by Tartarus Press.

In the author's acceptance speech for the Tiptree Award, she tells the apocrvaphyl story of Rene Descartes's daughter, Francine, and of the mechanical doll he was rumoured to have created in her image as inspiration for the novel.

Dying In The First Person

Published by Transit Lounge (Melbourne) in late 2016. This novel tells the story of twin brothers who create a paracosmic world (Nahum), including a language that only they speak and write.

References

  1. ↑ "Brisbane Writers Festival 2017". Uplit. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Brisbane Writers Festival 2017". Library Shop. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  3. ↑ Extract from author website
  • Author’s official website
  • University of Queensland Press
  • Tartarus Press (publisher of author's work)
  • Author's research profile at University of Southern Queensland
  • Transit Lounge (publisher of author's work)
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