Trent Dalton

Trent Dalton (born 1979) When he was seven years old, his mother was sent to prison for two years for smuggling drugs. Dalton spent the following 12 months living with his paternal grandparents. After that he lived with his father in a Housing Commission house in Bracken Ridge, a suburb on the northern outskirts of Brisbane.

Career After being recommended by a QUT tutor, Dalton was hired in 2000 as a writer for Brisbane News, a free weekly magazine. He then worked as a journalist for The Courier-Mail. , he works as a staff writer for The Weekend Australian Magazine.

In 2011 Dalton published Detours: Stories from the Street, a book containing profiles of 20 people he had interviewed who were living on the street, or at risk of becoming homeless.

In 2018 he published the semi-autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe through 4th Estate, which was longlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award. In May 2019 the television adaptation rights for Boy Swallows Universe were secured by Anonymous Content, Chapter One and Hopscotch Features. A seven-episode limited series was commissioned by Netflix and released in January 2024. The Queensland Theatre Company also developed a play from the novel, which premiered in September 2021 at the Brisbane Festival.

In 2020 Dalton published his second novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, which is also centred around words and storytelling. In 2021, Dalton published Love Stories, a collection of love stories gathered from street-corner interviews with passersby.

Dalton's third novel, Lola in the Mirror, was released in October 2023.

Personal life Dalton has two daughters with his wife Fiona. 2015: Winner: Feature Writing Short (under 4000 words) for "The Ghosts of Murray Street" 2020: Shortlisted: Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) for "Back From The Black"

Literary prizes Year Book Award Category Result Ref. 2018Boy Swallows Universe Dymocks Book of the Year — 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards Australian Book of the Year Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year Matt Richell Award for New Writer Audiobook of the Year Australian Booksellers Association Awards BookPeople Book of the Year Colin Roderick Award — Indie Book Awards Book of the Year Debut Fiction Miles Franklin Award — MUD Literary Prize — New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing People's Choice Award Queensland Literary AwardsQueensland Premier's Literary AwardThe Courier-Mail People's Choice Book of the Year 2020 International Dublin Literary Award —

Australian Book Industry Awards 2021: Shortlisted: Literary Fiction Book of the Year All Our Shimmering Skies Indie Book Awards 2021: Shortlisted: Fiction All Our Shimmering Skies 2022: Shortlisted: Nonfiction Love Stories 2024: Shortlisted: Fiction Lola in the Mirror

Queensland Literary Awards 2019: Shortlisted: Queensland Premier's Literary Award for a work of State Significance, for Boy Swallows Universe 2019: Shortlisted: The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award, for Boy Swallows Universe