Christos Tsiolkas

Tsiolkas was born and raised in Melbourne with his Greek immigrant parents,[1] and was educated at Blackburn High School.[2] Tsiolkas completed his Arts Degree at the University of Melbourne in 1987.[3] He edited the student newspaper Farrago in 1987.

Tsiolkas' first novel, Loaded (1995), about an alienated closet gay youth in Melbourne, was adapted as the feature film Head On (1998) by director Ana Kokkinos, starring Alex Dimitriades.[4] In 2006, his novel Dead Europe won The Age Book of the Year fiction award and was adapted into a film in 2012. In 2009, his fourth novel, The Slap, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009 for best novel in the South-East Asia and South Pacific area. The Slap has been turned into both an Australian and U.S. television miniseries. Barracuda was adapted for television in 2016.

Tsiolkas' 2019 novel Damascus won the 2020 Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction.[5] In November 2021 his work to date was recognised when he won the Melbourne Prize for Literature.[6]

Tsiolkas is a Richmond Football Club supporter[7] and gay.[8] He lives with his partner in Melbourne.

• Loaded (1995)
• Jump Cuts (with Sasha Soldatow, 1996)
• The Jesus Man (1999)
• The Devil's Playground (2002)
• Dead Europe (2005)
• The Slap (2008)
• Barracuda (2013)
• Merciless Gods (2014)
• Damascus (2019)
• 7 1/2 (2021)

• Who's Afraid of the Working Class? (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 1999, adapted for film as Blessed)
• Elektra AD (1999)
• Viewing Blue Poles (2000)
• Fever (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 2002)
• Dead Caucasians (2002)
• Non Parlo di Salo (with Spiro Economopoulos, 2005)
• The Hit (with Netta Yashin 2006)

• Thug (with Spiro Economopoulos, 1998)
• Saturn's Return (2000)

• Entry on Smartartists
• VIDEO Christos Tsiolkas talks with Leigh Sales about his writing process and 'The Slap' on ABC Fora

External video
One Plus One: Christos Tsiolkas, One Plus One, ABC News