Discover new books on Goodreads

See if your friends have read any of Peter Carey's books

more photos (1)

Peter Carey’s Followers (1,058)

Add New
Videos

Andrew Graham-Dixon interviews Peter Carey on his book Parrot and Olivier

Add a comment

Peter Carey

Born

in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia

May 07, 1943

Website

http://petercareybooks.com/

Genre

Fiction

edit data

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Not all books on this profile are by the same author. See this thread for more information.

Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.

He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 — after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arrived.

In 1961 he studied science for a single unsuccessful year at Monash University. He was then employed by an advertising agency where he began to receive his literary education, meeting Faulkner, Joyce, Kerouac and other writers he had previously been unaware of. He was nineteen.

For the next Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Not all books on this profile are by the same author. See this thread for more information.

Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.

He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 — after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arrived.

In 1961 he studied science for a single unsuccessful year at Monash University. He was then employed by an advertising agency where he began to receive his literary education, meeting Faulkner, Joyce, Kerouac and other writers he had previously been unaware of. He was nineteen.

For the next thirteen years he wrote fiction at night and weekends, working in many advertising agencies in Melbourne, London and Sydney.

After four novels had been written and rejected The Fat Man in History — a short story collection — was published in 1974. This slim book made him an overnight success.

From 1976 Carey worked one week a month for Grey Advertising, then, in 1981 he established a small business where his generous partner required him to work only two afternoons a week. Thus between 1976 and 1990, he was able to pursue literature obsessively. It was during this period that he wrote War Crimes, Bliss, Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda. Illywhacker was short listed for the Booker Prize. Oscar and Lucinda won it. Uncomfortable with this success he began work on The Tax Inspector.

In 1990 he moved to New York where he completed The Tax Inspector. He taught at NYU one night a week. Later he would have similar jobs at Princeton, The New School and Barnard College. During these years he wrote The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs, and True History of the Kelly Gang for which he won his second Booker Prize.

He collaborated on the screenplay of the film Until the End of the World with Wim Wenders.

In 2003 he joined Hunter College as the Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. In the years since he has written My Life as a Fake, Theft, His Illegal Self and Parrot and Oliver in America (shortlisted for 2010 Man Booker Prize).
...more

9 posts
Peter Carey's Blog

Peter Carey isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

Peter Carey on Ned Kelly: ‘Did no one see what I saw, that our famous bushranger was a raging poet?’

Twenty-five years after his award-winning book was published, the Australian author revisits True History of the Kelly Gang

How very weird to return to this old manuscript, the scene of so much doubt and anguish, not to say obsession.

I was a baby when the seed was planted, three years out of school, two years since my devastating failure in the first year of a science degree. I had drifted into adv

Combine Editions
Peter Carey’s books

Average rating: 3.62 · 95,863 ratings · 8,488 reviews · 102 distinct works • Similar authors

	True History of the Kelly Gang 3.83 avg rating — 24,744 ratings — published 2000 — 121 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Oscar and Lucinda 3.73 avg rating — 22,056 ratings — published 1988 — 109 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Parrot and Olivier in America 3.44 avg rating — 7,653 ratings — published 2009 — 67 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jack Maggs 3.69 avg rating — 4,506 ratings — published 1997	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bliss 3.76 avg rating — 3,642 ratings — published 1981 — 48 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Long Way From Home 3.50 avg rating — 3,861 ratings — published 2017 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Chemistry of Tears 2.95 avg rating — 4,282 ratings — published 2012 — 78 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Theft: A Love Story 3.43 avg rating — 3,655 ratings — published 2006 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Life as a Fake 3.39 avg rating — 3,662 ratings — published 2003 — 80 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Illywhacker 3.78 avg rating — 3,143 ratings — published 1985 — 54 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Peter Carey…

Related News

Interview with Peter Carey

Journey into the storied Black Forest with Carey's latest work, The Chemistry of Tears, about a grieving museum expert and the 19th-century...

Polls

May 2021 New School Classic Poll

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, 1957, 239 pages

59 votes, 25.1%

Passing by Nella Larsen, 1929, 122 pages

51 votes, 21.7%

Maurice by E.M. Forster, 1971, 256 pages

38 votes, 16.2%

Possession by A.S. Byatt, 1990, 555 pages

36 votes, 15.3%

Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, 1954, 113 pages

25 votes, 10.6%

Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, 1988, 515 pages

15 votes, 6.4%

The Way West by A.B. Guthrie Jr., 1949, 352 pages

11 votes, 4.7%

235 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SPRING CHALLENGE - 2009	6381	9064	Jun 14, 2009 02:57PM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks	2717	2519	May 31, 2010 09:00PM
Goodreads Malaysia: Senarai Panjang Hadiah Booker 2010	8	35	Aug 01, 2010 09:58PM
The Seasonal Read...: 20.7 - I Like Big Books And I Cannot Lie - Dionisia's Task - For Those We Love To Hate	105	252	Aug 16, 2010 08:48AM
The Seasonal Read...: 15.4 - Learn Your Numbers	137	386	Aug 19, 2010 10:47PM
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	3022	3294	Aug 31, 2010 10:39PM
Historical Fictio...: Challenge #3 - June 1 - August 31st	741	614	Sep 01, 2010 07:10PM
Between the Lines: * Author Nominations	9	78	Sep 05, 2010 03:30PM
Bookmarks Subscri...: (Aug - Sept 2010) Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey	5	22	Oct 17, 2010 04:56PM

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Peter to Goodreads.