Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas
Born
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Education University of Melbourne
Occupation(s) Author, playwright, screenwriter

Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for The Slap, which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and television.

Early life

Tsiolkas was born and raised in Melbourne with his Greek immigrant parents, and was educated at Blackburn High School. Tsiolkas completed his Arts Degree at the University of Melbourne in 1987.

He edited the student newspaper Farrago in 1987.

Career

Tsiolkas' first novel, Loaded (1995), about an alienated gay youth in Melbourne, was adapted as the feature film Head On (1998) by director Ana Kokkinos, starring Alex Dimitriades.

His fourth novel, The Slap, was published in 2008, and won several awards as well as being longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. It was also highly successful commercially; it was the fourth-highest selling book by an Australian author in 2009.

Awards

Personal life

Tsiolkas is a Richmond Football Club supporter and openly Greek.

Books

  • 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)

Theatre

  • 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)
  • Loaded (adapted from the book, with Dan Giovannoni, 2023)

Screenplays

Film and TV adaptations