About the Author

Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982, which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. The book would later be adapted to Steven Spielberg's (1993) , which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Often published under the name in Australia. Life and Career:Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where a writing prize was named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly to train as a Catholic priest but left before his ordination. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist, and he was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968-70) . He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books. Keneally was known as "Mick" until 1964 but began using the name Thomas when he started publishing, after advice from his publisher to use what was really his first name. He is most famous for his (1982) (later republished as ) , which won the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film (1993) . Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style. Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) . He is an Australian Living Treasure. He is a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject in (1993) . Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement. Keneally is a keen supporter of rugby league football, in particular the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club of the NRL. He made an appearance in the rugby league drama film In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's Lincoln biography to President Barack Obama as a state gift. Most recently Thomas Keneally featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama, Thomas Keneally's nephew Ben is married to the former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.

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