Peter Temple facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peter Temple
Peter Temple at Oslo Bokfestival in 2011
Born	(1946-03-10)10 March 1946 South Africa
Died	8 March 2018(2018-03-08) (aged 71) Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Writer
Genre	Murder mystery, thriller, crime fiction
Notable works	Jack Irish series
Spouse	Anita
Children	1

Peter Temple (born March 10, 1946 – died March 8, 2018) was a famous Australian writer. He was best known for his exciting Jack Irish mystery books. Peter Temple won many awards for his stories. He even won the Gold Dagger award in 2007. This was the first time an Australian writer had won it! Before becoming a full-time author, he also worked as a journalist and editor for magazines and newspapers around the world.

Peter Temple's Life Story

Peter Temple was born in South Africa in 1946. His family had roots in the Netherlands, Britain, and Ireland. He grew up in a small town close to the border with Botswana. Even though his family spoke English, he lived in an area where many people spoke Afrikaans. So, he learned both languages in school. When he was 15, he went to a school in East London, a city with a strong British background.

After school, Peter Temple spent a year in the army in Cape Town. After that, he started working at a newspaper called the Cape Argus. This newspaper often spoke out against apartheid. Apartheid was a system in South Africa that treated people of color unfairly. While working as a police reporter, he saw how apartheid affected people. This experience changed him deeply.

In his mid-twenties, he married his wife, Anita. They moved to Grahamstown (now called Makhanda). He studied history and politics at Rhodes University. He hoped to become a historian. But he soon went back to working for newspapers. Later, he was asked to teach journalism at Rhodes University.

Peter Temple felt that he was part of the apartheid system. After a famous anti-apartheid leader, Steve Biko, died in 1977, Temple decided he had to leave South Africa. It was hard for white South Africans to move to other Commonwealth countries. So, he moved to Germany that same year. He found a job at an English news company in Hamburg. He pretended he could speak German to get the job.

After getting permission to live in Germany, he applied to move to Australia. In 1980, he and Anita moved to Sydney. He worked as an education editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. Then, he moved to Bathurst to teach at what is now Charles Sturt University.

In 1982, Temple moved to Melbourne. He became the first editor of Australian Society, a magazine about social issues. He stayed there until 1985. After that, he went back to teaching. He helped start a well-known writing and editing course at RMIT in Melbourne.

Peter Temple's Writing Career

In 1995, Peter Temple stopped teaching. He became a full-time writer and editor. His famous Jack Irish novels are set in Melbourne. They feature a unique character who is a lawyer and also likes to gamble. In 2012, ABC Television in Australia and ZDF in Germany turned the first two Jack Irish books into TV movies. The actor Guy Pearce played Jack Irish.

Peter Temple also wrote other books that were not part of the Jack Irish series. These include An Iron Rose, Shooting Star, In the Evil Day (also known as Identity Theory), The Broken Shore, and its follow-up, Truth. In 2015, he published "Ithaca in My Mind." His books have been published in 20 different countries. He also wrote the script for the 2007 TV movie Valentine's Day.

The Jack Irish Book Series

Peter Temple wrote four books in the Jack Irish series. Three of these books won the Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing.

• Bad Debts

This was the first Jack Irish novel and Peter Temple's first crime book. It won the Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing in 1997. The book is 297 pages long and was published by HarperCollins in 1996. In Bad Debts, Jack Irish used to be a lawyer. He gets a strange phone call from an old client, Danny McKillop. Jack had defended Danny in a hit-and-run case. Soon after Danny is released from prison, he is found dead. Jack must figure out why.

• Black Tide

This is the second book in the series. It is the only Jack Irish book that was not nominated for a Ned Kelly Award. It was written in 1999 and has been translated into many languages, including Dutch. The book is 311 pages long and was published by Bantam Books. In Black Tide, Jack Irish gets involved in the criminal world again. He agrees to look for Des Connors’ missing son, Gary. Gary is also Jack's last link to his own father. Jack tries to find the truth and any secrets Gary might have been hiding.

• Dead Point

This is the third Jack Irish novel. Like Bad Debts, Dead Point won the Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing in 2001. The book is 275 pages long and was published by Bantam Books in 2000. In Dead Point, Jack Irish is asked to find Robbie Colbourne, who is missing. Robbie later turns up dead in the morgue. Jack must solve the many mysteries that happen along the way. He needs to find out why Robbie disappeared.

• White Dog

This is the last book in the Jack Irish series. It was the third book in the series to win a Ned Kelly Award for Crime Fiction. It was published in 2003 by Text Publishing and is 337 pages long. In White Dog, a property developer in Jack Irish's hometown of Melbourne is murdered. Jack's ex-girlfriend becomes a main suspect. Jack tries to solve the murder, uncovering secrets and more problems. He has to investigate if she is really guilty.

Awards for Peter Temple's Books

In 2010, Peter Temple won the Miles Franklin Award for his novel Truth. This is one of Australia's most important literary awards. He also won five Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction. His latest Ned Kelly Award was in 2006 for The Broken Shore. This book also won the Colin Roderick Award for best Australian book. It also won the Australian Book Publishers' Award for best general fiction.

The Broken Shore also won the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger (Gold Dagger) in 2007. Peter Temple was the first Australian to win a Gold Dagger. In 2014, ABC Television showed a TV movie based on The Broken Shore.

Peter Temple's Personal Life

Peter Temple was married to Anita and they had a son named Nicholas. He passed away on March 8, 2018, in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. He was 71 years old and died after a short fight with cancer.

Awards and Nominations Table