John Hooker

John Williamson Hooker (3 April 1932 – 29 April 2008) was a New Zealand-born Australian novelist.

Life and work John Hooker was born in Auckland, where he received an MA from the University of Auckland. He spent some time in the US before moving to Australia in 1963, working as publishing director at Penguin Australia and Collins. He turned to full-time writing in 1985.

His novels display a gift for "dramatic action, landscape description and psychological insight". Standing Orders is set during the Korean War.

Hooker suffered from multiple sclerosis from his fifties and in later years used a wheelchair. He and his second wife, Rae, moved to Port Fairy on Victoria's west coast, where he wrote a weekly column, "The Hooker Line", for the local newspaper The Warrnambool Standard. He died in Melbourne from pneumonia, aged 76, survived by Rae and Jake - his son.

Books Novels Jacob's Season (1971) The Bush Soldiers (1984) Standing Orders (1986) Captain James Cook (1987, based on a screenplay by Peter Yeldham) Rubicon (1990) Our Jack (1995) Beyond the Pale (1998)

Non-fiction Brekky, Dinner & Tea: Recipes for When You're Hungry (1985, with John Michie) Korea: The Forgotten War (1989)