Nicholas Hasluck

{{Short description|Author and former judge in Western Australia}}

{{Infobox writer

| image = Nicholas Hasluck at Mosman Library (cropped).jpg

| name = Nicholas Hasluck

| honorific_suffix = AM

| caption = Nicholas Hasluck at the Mosman Library, July 2011

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Nicholas Paul Hasluck

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|10|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Canberra, A.C.T.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Novelist, judge

| language = English

| nationality = Australian

| period =

| notableworks = The Bellarmine Jug, The Country Without Music

| awards = The Age Book of the Year, Western Australian Premier's Book Awards

| genre =

| subject =

| movement =

| influences =

| influenced =

| signature =

| website =

}}

Nicholas Paul Hasluck AM (born 17 October 1942) is an Australian novelist, poet, short story writer, and former judge.

Early life

Nicholas Hasluck was born in Canberra. His father, Sir Paul Hasluck was a minister in the Federal Government under Robert Menzies, and was later appointed Governor-General of Australia. Nicholas went to school at Scotch College, Perth, and Canberra Grammar School, before studying law at University of Western Australia (1963) and Oxford (1966). After completing his studies he worked briefly in Fleet Street in London as an editorial assistant before returning to Australia in 1967 to work as a solicitor, initially in partnership with Robert Holmes à Court.{{cite book

|accessdate=2010-12-25 |chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A170543b.htm

|title=Holmes à Court, Michael Robert Hamilton (1937 - 1990)

|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing, The Australian National University |first=John |last=McIlwraith

|chapter=Holmes à Court, Michael Robert (1937–1990)

|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition |volume=17 |year=2007}} He was a partner in the law firm Keall Brinsden from 1971 to 1984. While working as a barrister from 1985 to 2000 he was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988 and served as part-time President of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (WA). He was deputy chair of the Australia Council from 1978 to 1982 and was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).{{Cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869695|title=Nicholas Paul Hasluck|last=|first=|date=|website=honours.pmc.gov.au|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-12-19}} He served as Chair of the Literature Board from 1998 to 2001 and as Chair of the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 2014 to 2018.

Judicial career

On 1 May 2000, Hasluck was appointed a judge on the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the State of Western Australia. He retired as a judge on 5 May 2010.

Writing career

Hasluck started writing at school, producing poetry and essays for the school magazine and was first professionally published in 1964 with a poem appearing in Westerly literary magazine.Baker (1986) p. 163.

Hasluck's books fall into two categories, which he describes as "moral thriller genre and satire", with the thriller interesting him the most.Baker (1986) p. 162. He cites the American writers William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal as his main literary influences.Baker (1986) p. 177.

In 2006, Hasluck became Chairperson of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. He completed his term in 2011.

Awards

1984 - winner The Age Book of the Year Award Imaginative Writing Prize and Book of the Year The Bellarmine Jug{{cite web|title="Book council president" |newspaper= Canberra Times|date= 8 December 1984|publisher= The Canberra Times, 8 December 1984, p3|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122533199|access-date= 4 April 2025}}
1987 - shortlisted Miles Franklin Award for Truant State
1991 - shortlisted Miles Franklin Award for The Country Without Music
1991 - joint winner Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for The Country Without Music{{cite web|title="Australian Literary Awards: Western Australian Premier's" |publisher= University Libraries|url=https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=341672&p=2299464|access-date= 4 April 2025}}
1999 - shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for Our Man K

Bibliography

=Novels=

Quarantine (1978){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | author2=Brissenden collection | title=Quarantine | date=23 August 1978 | publication-date=1978 | publisher=The Macmillan Co. of Australia | isbn=978-0-333-23011-4}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110898792 |title=TENSION REDUCED |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=52 |issue=15,645 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=23 July 1978 |accessdate=9 June 2023 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}
The Blue Guitar (1980){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=The blue guitar | date=23 August 1980 | publication-date=1980 | publisher=Macmillan | isbn=978-0-333-29898-5}}
The Hand That Feeds You (1982){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=The hand that feeds you : a satiric nightmare | date=23 August 1982 | publication-date=1982 | publisher=Fremantle Arts Centre Press | isbn=978-0-909144-55-5}}
The Bellarmine Jug (1984)
Truant State (1987){{Citation | author1=Nicholas P. Hasluck | title=Truant state | date=23 August 1987 | publication-date=1987 | publisher=Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books | isbn=978-0-14-010466-0}}
The Country Without Music (1990){{Citation | author1=Nicholas P. Hasluck | title=The country without music | date=23 August 1990 | publication-date=1990 | publisher=Ringwood, Victoria Viking; assisted by the Literature Board of the Australia Council | isbn=978-0-670-83514-0}}
The Blosseville File (1992){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=The Blosseville file | date=23 August 1992 | publication-date=1992 | publisher=Penguin Books | isbn=978-0-14-015988-2}}
A Grain of Truth (1994){{Citation | author1=Nicholas P. Hasluck | title=A grain of truth | date=23 August 1994 | publication-date=1994 | publisher=Ringwood, Vic Penguin | isbn=978-0-14-023769-6}}
Our Man K (1999){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=Our man K | date=23 August 1999 | publication-date=1999 | publisher=Penguin | isbn=978-0-14-028249-8}}
Dismissal (2011){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | author2=Hasluck, Nicholas, 1942- | title=Dismissal | date=2011 | publisher=Fourth Estate | isbn=978-0-7322-9303-1 }}
Rooms in the City (2014){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=Rooms in the city : a novel | date=23 August 2023 | publication-date=2014 | publisher=Arcadia an imprint of Australian Scholarly Publishing | isbn=978-1-925003-68-0}}
The Bradshaw Case (2016){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=The Bradshaw case | date=28 July 2016 | publication-date=2016 | publisher=Arcadia | isbn=978-1-925333-48-0}}
Che's Last Embrace (2022)

=Short story collections=

The Hat on the Letter 'O' and Other Stories (1978; revised edition 1990){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | author2=Walker, Peter | title=The hat on the letter O and other stories | date=23 August 1978 | publication-date=1978 | publisher=Fremantle Arts Centre Press | isbn=978-0-909144-11-1}}
Wobbling the Whiteboard (under the pseudonym "Kim Lee") (2003){{Citation | author1=Lee, Kim Pat | title=Wobbling the whiteboard : five satirical squibs | date=23 August 2023 | publication-date=2003 | publisher=Freshwater Bay Press | isbn=978-1-74008-242-6}}

=Poetry=

Anchor and Other Poems (1976){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=Anchor and other poems | date=23 August 1976 | publication-date=1976 | publisher=Fremantle Arts Centre Press | edition=2nd | isbn=978-0-909144-02-9}}
On the Edge (1981){{Citation | author1=Grono, William | author2=Hasluck, Nicholas, 1942- | title=On the edge | publication-date=1980 | publisher=Freshwater Bay Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10394399 | access-date=9 June 2023}}
A Dream Divided (2004){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=A dream divided | date=23 August 2023 | publication-date=2005 | publisher=Access Press | edition=1st | isbn=978-0-86445-175-0}}

=Non-fiction=

Chinese Journey (1985) (with Christopher Koch)
Collage: Recollections and Images of the University of Western Australia (1987), essays
Offcuts From a Legal Literary Life (1993), essays{{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=Offcuts : from a legal literary life | date=1993 | publisher=University of Western Australia Press | isbn=978-1-875560-17-2 }}
The Legal Labyrinth (2003)
The Hasluck Banner (2006)
Somewhere in the Atlas: The Road to Khe Sanh and Other Travel Pieces (2007){{Citation | author1=Hasluck, Nicholas | title=Somewhere in the atlas : the road to Khe Sanh and other travel pieces | date=2007 | publisher=Freshwater Bay Press | isbn=978-1-74008-440-6 }}
Legal Limits (2013)
Jigsaw: Patterns in law and literature (2018)
Beyond the Equator: An Australian Memoir (2019){{Cite book|last=Hasluck, Nicholas, 1942-|title=Beyond the equator : an Australian memoir|date=7 November 2019|isbn=978-1-925984-11-8|location=North Melbourne, Vic|oclc=1128812905}}
Rollo's Way (2020)

=Plays=

Van M (1990)

=Articles=

{{cite journal |title=Keating takes the Comets on a learning curve |journal=Quadrant |volume=39 |issue=7–8 |date=Jul–Aug 1995 |pages=12–15}}
{{cite journal |date=Jul–Aug 1996 |title=Kafka's penal colony revisited |journal=Quadrant |volume=40 |issue=7–8 [328] |pages=45–47}}
{{cite journal |title=Gore Vidal: Radical Contrarian |journal=Quadrant |date=Jan–Feb 2015}}
{{cite journal |title=Judicial Activism |journal=Quadrant |date=May 2016}}
{{cite journal |title=Recognition Roulette |journal=Quadrant |date=Oct 2017}}

References

Baker, Candida (1986) Yacker: Australian writers talk about their work, Sydney, Picador
Daniel, Helen (1988) Liars: Australian New Novelists, Melbourne, Penguin

Nicholas Hasluck

Early life

Judicial career

Writing career

Awards

Bibliography

=Novels=

=Short story collections=

=Poetry=

=Non-fiction=

=Plays=

=Articles=

References

References

See also