Bryce Courtenay

Born in South Africa, Bryce Courtenay was educated in Johannesburg and the U.K. He arrived in Australia in 1958 and became an Australian citizen the following year.

Bryce Courtenay entered advertising and over a career spanning thirty four years was the Creative Director of McCann Erickson, J.Walter Thompson & George Patterson Advertising. During which period he was much awarded both in Australia and overseas.

As a lecturer and speaker he was invited by the Chinese Government to give the first series of lectures on the subject of Advertising and Free Enterprise. He has lectured on the power of the individual to achieve any end purpose, in Asia, the U.K. the U.S.A. New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and in his own country and is rated as one of the top five speakers in Australia.

However, he is best known as Australia’s top selling novelist with titles such as the inspirational The Power of One, which has been translated into eleven languages and was the subject of a major movie of the same name. Other titles include Tandia, April Fool’s Day, The Potato Factory, Tommo & Hawk, The Family Frying Pan, A Recipe for Dreaming, The Night Country, Jessica, Solomon’s Song, Smoky Joe’s Café, Four Fires, Matthew Flinders’ Cat and the latest being Brother Fish.  

In 1995, Bryce Courtenay was awarded The Order of Australia AM. In 2005, Bryce Courtenay was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from the University of Newcastle.