We remember acclaimed crime writer Peter Temple

“As far as I am concerned, I write novels, and other people can do the labelling.” – Peter Temple

This is the stand Peter Temple took when his novel Truth won the Miles Franklin award, generating a bit of contention over the fact that his ‘crime novel’ won Australia’s most important literary award. But it cannot be denied that Peter Temple’s work has been exemplary over the years.

Photo credit: Candy Bryce

The bestselling and multi-award-winning author has passed away at the age of 71, after a short battle with cancer. Peter died at his home in Ballarat, Melbourne, on Thursday March 8th, with his wife Anita and their son Nicholas at his side.

Once upon a time, Peter worked extensively as a journalist and editor for newspapers and magazines in many countries. Since making the change from journalist to writer, he has won five Ned Kelly Awards, the Duncan Lawrie Dagger award and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. He has left behind an incredible legacy of books that have been published in more than twenty countries.

Since Peter kept the news of his illness within the family, his passing has come as a shock for authors, publishers and fans around the world. It is believed that Temple was working on the third book in his current series, tentatively titled The Light on the Hill, that started with The Broken Shore (2005) and continued with the Miles Franklin award-winning Truth (2010). The question now remains of what will happen to this series, as well as his Jack Irish series, which has been made into a television series starring Guy Pearce.
 

Temple’s Melbourne-based publisher Michael Heyward (Text Publishing) has said that Peter Temple “was a defining writer for us.”

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About the Contributor

Bronwyn Eley

Before entering the exciting world of books, Bronwyn served in the Royal Australian Air Force, travelled extensively and worked (still does!) as a barista on the weekends. Books are her true passion. Bronwyn's debut fantasy novel Relic is coming out in 2019 with indie publishing house Talem Press. They are to publish her entire trilogy called The Relic Trilogy. In her spare time, Bronwyn writes, reads and enjoys keeping fit (which she undoes by eating loads of chocolate) with Martial Arts and personal training. She can't answer what her favourite book is but she has a soft spot for Peter Pan (J.M Barrie), Outlander (Diana Gabaldon), Stardust (Neil Gaiman), The Illuminae Files (Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman) and Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo). Fantasy, sci-fi and YA make up the majority of her bookshelves.

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