Australian writer
Arnold Zable (born 1947) is an Australian writer, novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate. His books include the memoir Jewels and Ashes, three novels: Café Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, and Sea of Many Returns, two collections of stories: The Fig Tree and Violin Lessons, and The Fighter. His most recent book, The Watermill, was published in March 2020.
Life
Zable was born on 10 January 1947 in Wellington, New Zealand to Polish-Jewish refugee parents.[1] They moved early in his life to Australia and he grew up in Carlton, Victoria. Arnold has been active member of the Melbourne Jewish Labour Bund.[2]
Themes and style
Zable is known as a storyteller — through his memoirs, short stories and novels. Australian critic Susan Varga says that Zable's award-winning memoir, Jewels and Ashes, "was a ground-breaking book in Australia, one of the first of what has since become a distinct auto/biographical genre: a second-generation writer returns to the scene of unspeakable crimes to try to understand a fraught and complex legacy, and, in so doing, embarks on a journey into the self."[3]
In an interview Zable explained that the rights and experiences of refugees and asylum seekers underpins his work:
The current generation of refugees are experiencing the intense challenges faced by previous generations. We tend to forget, or fail to imagine, how difficult it is to start life anew far from the homeland. We forget also that nostalgia, the longing for the return to homeland, is a deep and enduring aspect of the refugee experience.[4]
In the same interview he said about his language that "I am drawn to the quirky sayings and observations that define a person or a culture".[4]
Awards and nominations
- 1991: National Book Council Lysbeth Cohen Award for Jewels and Ashes[5]
- 1991: Ethnic Affairs Commission Award for Jewels and Ashes[5]
- 1992: FAW ANA Literature Award for Jewels and Ashes[5]
- 1992: Braille Book of the Year Award for Jewels and Ashes[5]
- 1992: Talking Book of the Year award for Jewels and Ashes[5]
- 2001: Shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for fiction for Cafe Scheherazade
- 2003: People's Choice Award, Tasmanian Pacific Fiction Prize for Cafe Scheherazade
- 2004: National Folk Recording Award for The Fig Tree
- 2010: Nominated for The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Sea of Many Returns
- 2013: The Victorian Council for Civil Liberties Voltaire Award
- 2015: Life membership, Writers Victoria
- 2016: Shortlisted, The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for 'The Fighter'
- 2016: Shortlisted, The New South Wales Literary awards for 'The Fighter'
- 2017: The Australia Council Fellowship for Literature
- 2020: Shortlisted, Queensland Literary Awards, Nonfiction Book Award, for The Watermill[6]
- 2021: Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature[7]
Bibliography
Books
Selected critical studies and reviews of Zable's work
- Violin lessons
References
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