Overview
Garry Disher (born 15 August 1949, in Corporate Town of Burra, South Australia) is an Australian author of crime fiction and children's literature. He is a three-time winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel. Disher's novels include three series: the Wyatt thrillers about a master thief in Melbourne; the Peninsula Crimes procedurals about Waterloo cops Hal Challis and Ellen Destry on the Mornington Peninsula; and the Hirsch series about police constable Paul Hirschhausen, set in rural South Australia, north of Adelaide.
Awards
*The Canberra Times National Short Story Competition, 1986: winner for "Amateur Hour" *Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year: Younger Readers, 1993: winner for The Bamboo Flute *IBBY Honour Diploma, Writing, 1994 for The Bamboo Flute *NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1996: shortlisted for The Sunken Road *New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Ethnic Affairs Commission Award, 1999: shortlisted for The Divine Wind *Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year: Older Readers, 1999: shortlisted for The Divine Wind *New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, The Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature, 1999: winner for The Divine Wind *Deutscher Krimi Preis (German Crime Fiction Award), International, 2000: winner for Kickback *Deutscher Krimi Preis (German Crime Fiction Award), International, 2002: winner for The Dragon Man *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2007: winner for Chain of Evidence *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2010: winner for Wyatt *Colin Roderick Award, 2020: shortlisted for Peace *Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2021: winner for Consolation *Colin Roderick Award, 2021: shortlisted for Consolation *Colin Roderick Award, 2025: shortlisted for Sanctuary
Novels
*Steal Away (1987) *The Stencil Man (1988) *The Sunken Road (1996) *Past the Headlands (2001) *Play Abandoned (2011) *Under the Cold Bright Lights (2017) *Her (2017) *The Way It Is Now (2021) *Sanctuary (2024)
Crime series – The Wyatt novels
*Kickback (1991) *Paydirt (1992) *Deathdeal (1993) *Crosskill (1994) *Port Vila Blues (1996) *The Fallout (1997) *Wyatt (2010) *The Wyatt Butterfly (2010: omnibus containing Port Vila Blues and The Fallout) *The Heat (2015) *Kill Shot (2018)
Crime series – The Challis and Destry novels, aka the Peninsula Crimes series
*The Dragon Man (1999) *Kittyhawk Down (2003) *Snapshot (2005) *Chain of Evidence (2007) *Blood Moon (2009) *Whispering Death (2012) *Signal Loss (2016)
Crime series – The Paul "Hirsch" Hirschhausen novels
*Bitter Wash Road (2013) published in 2014 as Hell to Pay in the US *Peace (2019) published by Text Publishing *Consolation (2020) published by Text Publishing *Day's End (2022) published by Text Publishing *Mischance Creek (2025)
Short story collections
*Approaches (1981) *The Difference to Me (1988) *Flamingo Gate (1991) *Straight, Bent and Barbara Vine (crime stories, 1997)
Young adult
*Blame the Wind (1995) *Restless : Stories of Flight & Fear (1995) *The Half Dead (1997) *The Apostle Bird (1997) *The Divine Wind (1999) *From Your Friend, Louis Deane (2000) *Moondyne Kate (2001) *Eva's Angel (2003) *Two-Way Cut (2004)
Children's
*The Bamboo Flute (1992) *Ratface (1993) *Ermyntrude Takes Charge (1995) *Walk Twenty, Run Twenty (1996) *Maddie Finn (2002) *Switch Cat (1994)
Edited
*The Man Who Played Spoons (1987) *Personal Best (1989) *Personal Best 2 (1991) *Below the Waterline (1999)
Non-fiction
*Wretches and Rebels: The Australian Bushrangers (1981) *Writing Fiction: An Introduction to the Craft (1983) *Bushrangers (1984) *Total War: The Home Front, 1939-1945 (1985) *Australia Then & Now (1987) *Writing Professionally: The Freelancer's Guide to Writing and Marketing (1989) *Writing Fiction: An Introduction to the Craft (revised edition) (2001)
External links
*Garry Disher's website