Renowned Author, Poet and Advocate
Colin Thiele wrote for more than fifty years, becoming known as one of Australia's most accomplished and versatile authors and poets. Publishing over 100 titles in his life, many were translated into different languages and made into movies or television series.
Colin's descriptions and representations of the Australian landscape, environment and rural life are a unique trademark of his writing. His writing evokes a love of Australia, which he passes on to his readers.
One of Colin Thiele's early works was a volume of poetry published in 1945. Progress to Denial: A Poem was the winning entry in the W. J. Miles Memorial Competition held in 1944 for a patriotic poem.
In the 1960's Colin Thiele began turning his writing talents to children's novels, often describing life in rural South Australia. The popularity of these books continues to this day, with many of the titles such as Storm Boy, Blue Fin, Fire in the Stone and Sun on the Stubble adapted for film or television.
Colin's Thiele's works were also translated into a variety of languages including Italian, Chinese, German, French, Swedish, and Dutch. Copies of many of these translations are in the Colin Thiele Research Collection.
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From the late 1960's to the 1980's Colin wrote all of his works on his trusty Smith-Corona electric typewriter. This included aroud 40 children's books, over a dozen books for adults, along with many lectures, addresses, conference papers, after dinner speeches, introductions and forewords. Colin estimated that his trusty typewriter produced more than two million words.
Many of these original typescripts survive, complete with Colin's handwritten annotations.
Colin Thiele was a passionate advocate for the environment and he embedded this passion into his writing. Many of his books centred on themes of care for animals and the nature of the relationship between humans and the natural world.
