Anthony Eaton (1971–) Biography

Born 1971, in New Guinea; Education: University of Western Australia, doctoral studies (creative writing). Hobbies and other interests: Water activities, traveling, skiing, cycling, hiking, fishing, reading, writing.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, University of Queensland Press, P.O. Box 6042, St. Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia.

Career

Educator and writer. Worked variously as a security guard, car park attendant, sailing instructor, and rowing coach; Trinity College, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, teacher of English until 2002; writer, 1997–, and lecturer.

Honors Awards

West Australian Premier's award for young-adult fiction, and Aureolis Award for Best Adult Fantasy shortlist, both 2000, both for The Darkness; Children's Book Council of Australia Award (CBCA) notable book designation, International Youth Library Notable Book selection, Western Australian Premier's Award shortlist and Vision Australia Young Adult Audio Book of the Year award, all 2002, all for A New Kind of Dreaming; Western Australian Premier's Award shortlist, 2003, for Nathan Nuttboard Hits the Beach; Western Australian Premier's Award, 2004, and CBCA Award honor book, 2005, both for Fireshadow; Australian Antarctic Division Antarctic arts fellow, 2005–06; Aureolis Award shortlist for best adult fantasy and for best young-adult fantasy, both 2006, both for Nightpeople.

Writings

The Darkness, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2000.

A New Kind of Dreaming, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2001.

Nathan Nuttboard Hits the Beach, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2002.

Fireshadow, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2004.

The Girl in the Cave, illustrated by Johnny Danalis, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2004.

Nightpeople (first novel in "The Darklands" trilogy), University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2005.

Work in Progress

Nathan Nuttboard: Family Matters; Skypeople, the second novel in "The Darklands" trilogy.

Sidelights

Anthony Eaton took up writing professionally in 1997 after meeting well-known Australian author Gary Crew at a writer's workshop held in Eaton's native West Australia. Eaton made his publishing debut in 2000 with the award-winning young-adult novel The Darkness, about two young people who find themselves caught up in the paranoid mind-set overshadowing their isolated community. Two years later, Eaton resigned from his full-time teaching position at Perth's Trinity College in order to pursue the full-time writing career that has earned him fans in a range of ages. He introduces middle-grade readers to a quirky young protagonist in his semi-autobiographical Nathan Nuttboard Hits the Beach, opens up a new fantasy world in Nightpeople, and shares his passion for history with older readers in 2004's Fireshadow. Reviewing Eaton's humorous elementary-grade reader, titled The Girl in the Cave, Although Kate finds it strange that she is forced to live in a cave behind her aunt and uncle's home, a surprise visit from a stranger soon makes life even stranger in Eaton's quirky novel for younger readers. (Cover illustration by Johnny Danalis.)Aussie Reviews Online contributor Sally Murphy noted that the book's "twists and turns are zany and unbelievable—which is just what kids like."

Taking place during World War II, Fireshadow follows two seventeen-year-old boys. Erich Pieters joins the German Wehrmacht to fight for Chancellor Adolf Hitler in 1941, and winds up in an Australian Prisoner of War camp after fighting in North Africa. Half a century later, Vinnie Santiani flees into the remote Australian Bush in an effort to cope with the tragic death of his sister. Despite the fact that they live in different epochs, the boys' lives intertwine in the novel with haunting results. A reviewer for Magpies commented that the award-winning book's "language is exceptional throughout … while the author's insights into the emotional lives of the young people are sensitively conveyed."

On his home page, Eaton commented that, "for me, a story begins with a character—and it is the process of exploring that character's experiences that reveals the story." In planning the three-part series that begins with the futuristic novel Nightpeople, Eaton explained that he "wanted to explore a society turned in upon itself, which has been struggling to survive, and which is reaching the end of its history. I was also keen to write something with a strong female protagonist—so far my main characters have all been male, and I thought it would be fun to try something from another point of view."