Papers of Brian Castro
MSS 253

Collection Description

This collection comprises manuscript and annotated typescript drafts for the novels Birds of passage (1983), Pomeroy (1990) and Double-wolf (1991)

Administrative / Biographical history

Brian Castro was born at sea, between Macao and Hong Kong in 1950. His father was descended from Spanish, Portuguese and English merchants who settled in Shanghai at the turn of the century. He is also of Chinese descent through his mother, the daughter of a Chinese farmer and an English missionary. He has published in English, which was first taught him by his maternal grandmother but his first language was Cantonese Chinese, followed by English, Mecanese (a 'hybrid' Portuguese spoken in Macao) and French.

After arriving in Australia in 1961, he attended boarding school in Sydney and gained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Sydney in 1971 and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Sydney in 1976. A secondary teacher until 1976, he spent one year teaching at the Lycée Technique Aulnay-sous-Bois, Paris. He returned to teaching for a period and then became a part-time milk deliverer and writer in the Blue Mountains. He won first prize in the 1973 Sydney University Short Story Competition and in the 1981 Nepean Review Short Story Competition. He has given public addresses, lectures and readings of his work at the Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW), Katoomba, in 1982, the Multicultural Writers' Conference, Sydney, in 1984, Mitchell College and Orange Town Hall, in 1985, The Sydney Biennale, Art Gallery of NSW, in 1988, the Université de Paris, Nanterre, in 1988, The Université de Rouen in 1988 and at the Université de Toulous-Le Mirail, Toulouse, in 1988.

Also in 1988, Birds of passage was translated into Chinese by Li Yao, President of the Writer's Association of Inner Mongolia, as was his other award winning novel, After China. In 1994 he was writer-in-residence at the University of Hong Kong and in the latter part of 1995 he was Writing Fellow at the Australian National University, the University of Canberra and University College, Australian Defence Force Academy (during which period he delivered the two lectures published in Writing Asia and Auto/biography). Looking for Estrellita collects two decades worth of essays and criticism.

Castro has received the following awards and grants:
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, Grants for Established Writers, 2006 Note: $30,000 for fiction writing
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Fellowship, 1990 - 1991
Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships, Literature Board Grants, general writing grant, 1983
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2007: longlisted for The garden book
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Best Fiction Book, 2006: winner for The garden book
Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2006: shortlisted for The garden book
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2005: longlisted for Shanghai dancing
Festival Awards for Literature (SA), Award for Innovation in Writing, 2004: shortlisted for Shanghai dancing
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2004: winner for Shanghai dancing
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Book of the Year, 2004: winner for Shanghai dancing
The Age Book of the Year Award, Fiction Prize, 2003: shortlisted for Shanghai dancing
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 2003: winner for Shanghai dancing
NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1997: winner for Stepper
NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1995: shortlisted for Drift
The Age Book of the Year Award, Fiction Prize, 1994: shortlisted for Drift
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 1993: winner for After China
NBC Banjo Awards, NBC Banjo Award for Fiction, 1993: shortlisted for After China
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Diabetes Australia Prize for Innovative Writing, 1992: winner for Double-wolf
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 1992: winner for Double-wolf
The Age Book of the Year Award, Imaginative Writing Prize, 1991: winner for Double-wolf
The Australian / Vogel National Literary Award (for an unpublished manuscript), 1982: joint winner for Birds of passage.

Castro's publications include:
Birds of passage (1983)
Pomeroy (1990)
Double-wolf (1991)
After China (1992)
Drift (1994)
Writing Asia and auto/biography (1995)
Stepper (1997)
Looking for Estrellita (1999)
Shanghai dancing (2003)
Garden book (2005).

References:
AustLit : The resource for Australian literature, March 2007.

Acquisition Details

Scope and Content

This collection includes manuscript and annotated typescript drafts for Castro's first three novels, comprising Birds of passage (1983), Pomeroy (1990) and Double-wolf (1991).

System of arrangement

This collection has been arranged in box and then folder order.

Access Restrictions

Reproduction Restrictions

Existence and Location of Orginals

Disclaimer