Trent Dalton (born 1979)
Early life and education
Dalton was born in Ipswich, Queensland, the youngest of four sons.
He spent his early childhood living with his mother and stepfather in Brassall.
Both sold
heroin and spent time in jail.
When he was seven years old, his mother was sent to prison for two years for smuggling drugs. Dalton spent the following 12 months living with his paternal grandparents.
After that he lived with his father in a Housing Commission house in Bracken Ridge, a suburb on the northern outskirts of
Brisbane.
For a few years in their teens, Dalton and one of his brothers lived with his mother.
After high school, Dalton studied journalism for one year at University of Southern Queensland then another year at Queensland University of Technology.
Career
After being recommended by a QUT tutor, Dalton was hired in 2000 as a writer for
Brisbane News, a free weekly magazine.
He then worked as a journalist for
The Courier-Mail.
, he works as a staff writer for
The Weekend Australian Magazine.
[ "Trent Dalton", profile, The Australian]
In 2011 Dalton published Detours: Stories from the Street, a book containing profiles of 20 people he had interviewed who were living on the street, or at risk of becoming homeless.
In 2018 he published the semi-autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe through HarperCollins,
In 2020 Dalton published his second novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, which is also centred around words and storytelling.
Dalton's third novel, Lola in the Mirror, was released in October 2023.
Personal life
Dalton has two daughters with his wife Fiona.
Works
Fiction
Non-fiction
Notes
- Originally published as a multi-part series in The Australian.
Awards
Journalism awards
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Walkley Awards
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2011: Winner: Social Equity Journalism for "Home is where the hurt is"
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2015: Winner: Feature Writing Short (under 4000 words) for "The Ghosts of Murray Street"
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2020: Shortlisted: Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) for "Back From The Black"
Literary prizes
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| Queensland Literary Awards | Queensland Premier's Literary Award | | |
| The Courier-Mail People's Choice Book of the Year | | |
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Australian Book Industry Awards
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2021: Shortlisted: Literary Fiction Book of the Year All Our Shimmering Skies
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Indie Book Awards
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2021: Shortlisted: Fiction All Our Shimmering Skies
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2022: Shortlisted: Nonfiction Love Stories
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2024: Shortlisted: Fiction Lola in the Mirror
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Queensland Literary Awards
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2019: Shortlisted: Queensland Premier's Literary Award for a work of State Significance, for Boy Swallows Universe
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2019: Shortlisted: The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award, for Boy Swallows Universe
Further reading
External links
