Winton, Tim (Timothy John Winton), 1960–, Australian writer, generally regarded as the preeminent Australian novelist of his generation. Most of his books have been set in his coastal Western Australia home and celebrate its hardscrabble life, landscape, and linguistic vernacular. Winton burst on the literary scene with his first novel, An Open Swimmer (1982), written when he was still a student. His most popular novel, Cloudstreet (1991), the tale of two very different working-class families trying to rebuild their lives, has become an Australian classic and been the basis of a play (1999) and an opera (2016). That Eye, the Sky (1986, film 1994), The Riders (1994), Dirt Music (2001), and Breath (2008, film, 2017) have also strongly resonated with his readers. Winton also has written fiction for young adults, notably the Lockie Leonard series (1993–), which has been adapted for two television series. Other works include short stories, e.g., those in The Turning (2004, film 2013), plays, children's books, essays, and autobiographical books (Island Home, 2015; The Boy behind the Curtain, 2016). Winton, who also is an active environmentalist, was named a Living Treasure by the Australia's National Trust in 1997.
See R. Rossiter and L. Jacobs, ed., Reading Tim Winton (1993); H. McPhee, ed., Tim Winton: A Celebration (1999); S. Ben-Messahel, Mind the Country: Tim Winton's Fiction (2006); L. McCredden and N. O'Reilly, ed., Tim Winton: Critical Essays (2014).
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