Christos Tsiolkas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Christos Tsiolkas
Christos Tsiolkas in 2015
Born	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Education	University of Melbourne
Occupation	Author, playwright, screenwriter

Christos Tsiolkas is a well-known Australian writer. He creates stories for books, plays for the theatre, and scripts for movies and TV shows. He is especially famous for his book The Slap, which was very popular and won many awards. Several of his stories have also been made into films and television series.

About Christos Tsiolkas

His Early Life and Education

Christos Tsiolkas was born and grew up in Melbourne, Australia. His parents moved to Australia from Greece. He went to Blackburn High School and later studied at the University of Melbourne, where he earned his Arts Degree in 1987. During his time at university, he also helped edit the student newspaper called Farrago.

A Career in Writing

Christos Tsiolkas began his writing career with his first novel, Loaded, published in 1995. This book tells the story of a young person growing up in Melbourne. It was later adapted into a feature film called Head On in 1998, directed by Ana Kokkinos and starring Alex Dimitriades.

His fourth novel, The Slap, came out in 2008. This book became a huge success, winning several important awards. It was also considered for the prestigious Man Booker Prize and the Miles Franklin Award. The Slap was one of the best-selling books by an Australian author in 2009.

Famous Books and Adaptations

Many of Christos Tsiolkas's books and plays have been turned into movies and TV shows. This shows how much people enjoy his storytelling. His ability to create engaging characters and plots makes his work popular across different forms of media.

Awards and Recognition

Christos Tsiolkas has received many awards for his writing. These awards celebrate his talent in creating stories for books, plays, and screenplays.

• 1999: AWGIE Award for Stage, for his play Who’s Afraid of the Working Class? (written with Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, and Melissa Reeves). This award is for excellent writing in Australian theatre.
• 2006: The Age Fiction Book of the Year, for one of his novels.
• 2009: ABIA Book of the Year, a major award for the best book in Australia.
• 2009: ALS Gold Medal, for The Slap. This medal is given by the Australian Literature Society.
• 2009: Commonwealth Writers Prize, overall winner for best book, for The Slap. This prize celebrates writers from Commonwealth countries.
• 2009: Nielsen BookData Booksellers' Choice Award, for The Slap. This award is chosen by booksellers.
• 2009: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, for The Slap. This is an important literary award from the state of Victoria.
• 2020: Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, for his book Damascus (published in 2019).
• 2021: Melbourne Prize for Literature, a significant award for writers connected to Melbourne.

His Personal Interests

Christos Tsiolkas is a proud supporter of the Richmond Football Club, an Australian Rules Football team. He also has Greek family roots, which is an important part of his background.

His Works

Books He Has Written

• Loaded (1995)
• Jump Cuts (with Sasha Soldatow, 1996)
• The Jesus Man (1999)
• The Devil's Playground (2002)
• Dead Europe (2005)
• The Slap (2008)
• Barracuda (2013)
• Merciless Gods (2014)
• Damascus (2019)
• 7 1/2 (2021)
• The In-Between (2023)

Plays for the Stage

• Who's Afraid of the Working Class? (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 1999)
• Elektra AD (1999)
• Viewing Blue Poles (2000)
• Fever (with Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius, 2002)
• Dead Caucasians (2002)
• Non Parlo di Salo (with Spiro Economopoulos, 2005)
• The Hit (with Netta Yashin, 2006)
• The Audition (with Melissa Reeves, Milad Norouzi, Patricia Cornelius, Sahra Davoudi, Tes Lyssiotis and Wahibe Moussa, produced by Outer Urban Projects, 2019 and 2024)
• Loaded (adapted from his book, with Dan Giovannoni, 2023)

Stories for the Screen

• Thug (1998), a short film (co-written with Spiro Economopoulos)
• Saturn's Return (2001), a TV movie starring Joel Edgerton and Damian Walshe-Howling
• Little Tornadoes (2021), co-written with director Aaron Wilson

Books and Plays on Screen

Many of Christos Tsiolkas's stories have been adapted for film and television, allowing even more people to enjoy his work.

• The play Who's Afraid of the Working Class? (1999) was made into the film Blessed in 2009, directed by Ana Kokkinos.
• His first novel, Loaded (1995), was adapted into the 1998 film Head On, starring Alex Dimitriades.
• The novel Dead Europe (2006) was made into a film of the same name in 2012, directed by Tony Krawitz and featuring Kodi Smit-McPhee.
• His famous novel The Slap has been turned into two different television miniseries: one in Australia and another in the U.S..
• The book Barracuda was adapted for television in 2016.