James Bradley (born 15 May 1967) is an Australian novelist and critic. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he trained as a lawyer before becoming a writer.
His books include three novels and a book of poetry. His novels have been published internationally and won or been shortlisted for a number of major Australian literary awards, including The Age Fiction Book of the Year, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (SE Asia and Pacific Region), the Courier-Mail Book of the Year Award, the Aurealis Best Novel Award (Science Fiction category), the Adelaide Festival's National Fiction Award, the Fellowship of the Australian Writers Literature Award, the Australian National Book Council's 'Banjo' Award and the Kathleen Mitchell Literary Award. He was also one of The Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelists in 1997 and 2000, and on 16 June 2008 The Resurrectionist was included as one of Richard & Judy's Summer Reads for 2008 He has also edited two anthologies, Blur, a collection of writing by young Australian writers, and The Penguin Book of the Ocean.
Bradley's novels explore both past and future. The first, Wrack explores questions about the nature of history and the imaginary origins of Australia, drawing together the story of the semi-mythical "Mahogany Ship", a Portuguese caravel supposedly wrecked on the southern coast of Australia, love stories and a murder-mystery. The second, The Deep Field, is set in a dystopic near-future and tells the story of a love affair between a photographer and a blind palaeontologist. The third, The Resurrectionist, based loosely on the story of the Burke and Hare murders details the fall from grace of a young anatomist, Gabriel Swift.
Bradley also writes as a critic, with reviews and articles appearing regularly in Australian newspapers and magazines, and blogs at City of Tongues. In 2012 he won the Pascall Prize for Criticism and was named Australian Critic of the Year.
He lives in Sydney with his partner, the novelist Mardi McConnochie.
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—Henry James (1843–1916)
“We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.... The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”
—Omar Bradley (1893–1981)