About Nick Earls
Born 1963. Nick Earls is an Australian writer and novelist.
Nicholas Francis Ward Earls (born 8 October 1963) is a novelist from Brisbane, Australia, who writes humorous popular fiction about everyday life. The majority of his novels are set in his home town of Brisbane. He fronted a major Brisbane tourism campaign.
Biography Earls was born on 8 October 1963 in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. He emigrated to Australia with his parents and sister at the age of nine. Living in Brisbane, he was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School there. He completed a medical degree at the University of Queensland and worked as a GP before turning to writing.
Career Earls has been compared to Nick Hornby. Zigzag Street, his second novel, won the Betty Trask Award in 1998 (sharing with Kiran Desai's Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard). His young-adult novel, 48 Shades of Brown, won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for older readers in 2000. Several of his novels (After January and 48 Shades of Brown) have been adapted for theatre, and 48 Shades of Brown was adapted into a film entitled 48 Shades, released in August 2006. Earls has also written other novels, including Bachelor Kisses (which borrows its title from a song by Brisbane band The Go-Betweens), Perfect Skin, World of Chickens, The Thompson Gunner, and young adult novels After January, and Making Laws for Clouds.
Earls has also contributed to the four best-selling anthologies in the Girls' Night In series as well as Kids' Night In and Kids' Night in 2 as editor. His most recent novels are Welcome to Normal, a collection of original short stories, The True Story of Butterfish, about a former rock star re-adjusting to mundane life in the Brisbane suburbs, and Monica Bloom, based on his own adolescent experience of an ill-fated crush.
novel. Set in a house addressed as 34 Zigzag Street, Red Hill, Brisbane, Australia.
For children
Series: Word Hunters
Short fiction TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedMoving1993 Issue titled Queensland, words and all.Dog 1, Dog 21993 Issue titled Queensland, words and all.
Collections
Poetry
Critical studies and reviews Review of The fix. Introduction to a reissue of The Delinquents by Criena Rohan, 2014 Retrieved 17 October 2015
Don’t just read it —
keep it.
Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.
- E-book
- Audio
- Video
Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free
Important facts
People in Nick Earls's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Nick Earls's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Nick Earls?
Australian novelist
When was Nick Earls born?
Nick Earls was born on 8 October 1963 in Newtownards.
What is Nick Earls's occupation?
Nick Earls is a writer and novelist.
What nationality is Nick Earls?
Nick Earls is Australian.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Nick Earls. https://biography.guide/nick-earls/
MLA: "Nick Earls." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/nick-earls/.
Chicago: "Nick Earls." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/nick-earls/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
Page generated 2026-09-27 05:05 UTC