Born in Sydney, Australia, in 1935, Thomas Keneally was educated at various schools on the New South Wales north coast. Although he initially studied for the Catholic priesthood, he abandoned that idea in 1960, turning to teaching and clerical work before writing and publishing his first novel, The Place at Whitton, in 1964. Since that time Keneally has been a full-time writer, aside from the occasional stint as a lecturer or writer-in-residence. Considered one of the most successful modern Australian writers of all time, Keneally wrote more than a dozen novels before publishing the story that became his most controversial, but best-known and most influential, to date. Published in 1982, Schindler's Ark, the story of a man, Oskar Schindler, who risked his life to protect beleaguered Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland was considered by some to be a work of journalistic reporting. Eleven years later, Stephen Spielberg adapted Keneally's book into the hugely successful, yet visibly disturbing, film, Schindler's List. Other books written by Keneally include Gossip from the Forest, A Dutiful Daughter, A River Town, and By the Line. Keneally has also written a children's book and a screenplay. In 1983, Thomas Keneally was awarded the order of Australia for his services to Australian Literature. He has won international acclaim for his novels, including Schindler's List, the basis for the Steven Spielberg film and winner of the Booker Prize, and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith.
