Paul Radley


Paul Radley is an Australian writer and was the recipient of the 1981 Australian/Vogel Literary Award.

Background

Radley was born and raised in Newcastle, NSW; by the time he was 16 years old, having dropped out of school, he took a job as a storeman at David Jones.[1]

Writing career

The book that Radley received his award for was called, 'Jack Rivers and Me'. It was a story that was about the lower Hunter Valley residents, with a focus on five-year-old Peanut and his imaginary friend Jack Rivers. Once he received the $10,000 prize, the book was published by Allen and Unwin. Following that the Literature Board of the Australia Council presented him with a writer’s fellowship. This led to the publication of two more novels by Radley.[2] He was also a writer-in-residence at St. Andrews University, Scotland, where he received a fellowship from the Literature Board.[3]

Controversy

In March 1996, Radley claimed that he had not had anything to do with the authorship of 'Jack Rivers and Me'. Instead, he claimed that his great uncle Jack Radley had written it all, but had been too old to enter the competition. In May of that year, Jack confessed that he’d assembled the manuscript from materials had been used in his own unpublished stories. He did say however that Paul had made a significant contribution by taping conversations that were used in the manuscript. Jack had asked his great nephew to enter the competition on his behalf.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Biography". AustLit. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Honour Roll". Australian of the Year Awards. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Neill, Rosemary. "Fully formed: 30 years of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award". The Australian. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Days, Adelaide. "The Teenage Literary Hero Who Could Not Live a Lie". The Independent. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
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