Author

David Whish-Wilson was born in Newcastle, NSW but raised in Singapore, Victoria and WA. He left Australia in 1984 to live in Europe, Africa and Asia, where he worked as a barman, actor, streetseller, labourer, exterminator, factory worker, gardener, clerk, travel agent, teacher and drug trial guinea pig.

During this time he began to publish short stories in Australia (anthologised in Pascoe Publishing's Best Fifty Stories Collection) and had a longer piece short-listed for the Vogel/Australian Literary Award.

His first novel The Summons was published in 2006 (Vintage - Random House.) His second novel Line of Sight was published by Penguin in September 2010, and was short-listed for a 2011 Ned Kelly Award (see reviews.)

The sequel to Line of Sight -  Zero at the Bone was released with Penguin Australia in August 2013. David wrote the Perth book for the New South Publishing city series, which was short-listed for the 2014 WA Premier's Book Awards (see reviews). The third novel in the Frank Swann crime series, Old Scores, was released by Fremantle Press in November 2016, and the fourth, Shore Leave, in 2020. His historical crime novel, The Coves, was released by Fremantle Press in July 2018. Reviews of all books can be found on the reviews page of this site. David's 2019 crime novel, True West, was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction.

David has taught in the prison system in both WA and Fiji, where he started the country’s first prisoner writing program.

He currently lives in Fremantle, Western Australia, where he teaches creative writing at Curtin University. His most recent novel is The Sawdust House, out with Fremantle Press in 2022 - https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/the-sawdust-house/