Don Watson
Encyclopedia
Don Watson is an Australia
n author
and public speaker.
, took his undergraduate degree at La Trobe University
and a Ph.D at Monash University
and was for ten years an academic historian. He wrote three books on Australian history before turning his hand to TV and the stage. For several years he combined writing political satire for the actor Max Gillies
with political speeches for the former Premier of Victoria, John Cain
. In 1992 he became Prime Minister
Paul Keating
's speech-writer and adviser and his best-selling account of those years, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart': Paul Keating Prime Minister, won both The Age Book of the Year
and non-fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award and the Australian Literary Studies Association's Book of the Year. In addition to regular books, articles and essays, in recent years he has also written feature films, including The Man Who Sued God
, starring Billy Connolly
and Judy Davis
.
His 2001 Quarterly Essay Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America won the inaugural Alfred Deakin Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Death Sentence, his book about the decay of public language, was also a best seller and won the Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year. Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words was published in 2004 and continued to encourage readers to renounce what he perceives to be meaningless corporate and government jargon that is spreading throughout Australia and embrace meaningful, precise language. More recently Watson contributed the preface to a selection of Mark Twain's writings, The Wayward Tourist.
His latest book, American Journeys is a narrative of modern America from Watson's travels in the United States following Hurricane Katrina. It was published by Knopf in 2008 and won both The Age Book of the Year
non-fiction and Book of the Year awards. It also won the 2008 Walkley Award for the best non-fiction book.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and public speaker.
Biography
Watson grew up on a farm in GippslandGippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
, took his undergraduate degree at La Trobe University
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
and a Ph.D at Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
and was for ten years an academic historian. He wrote three books on Australian history before turning his hand to TV and the stage. For several years he combined writing political satire for the actor Max Gillies
Max Gillies
Max Gillies AM is an Australian actor.Gillies was a founding member of the experimental theatre company, the Australian Performing Group, which was active throughout the 1970s....
with political speeches for the former Premier of Victoria, John Cain
John Cain II
John Cain , Australian Labor Party politician, was the 41st Premier of Victoria, holding office from 1982 to 1990.-Biography:...
. In 1992 he became Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
's speech-writer and adviser and his best-selling account of those years, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart': Paul Keating Prime Minister, won both The Age Book of the Year
The Age Book of the Year
The Age Book of the Year Awards are annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. Since 1998 they have been presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival...
and non-fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award and the Australian Literary Studies Association's Book of the Year. In addition to regular books, articles and essays, in recent years he has also written feature films, including The Man Who Sued God
The Man Who Sued God
The Man Who Sued God is a 2001 Australian film, starring Billy Connolly and directed by Mark Joffe.-Plot:Advocate Steve Myers is a disillusioned lawyer who becomes fed-up with the perceived corruption within the judicial system. He quits the law business and buys a small fishing boat and takes up...
, starring Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
and Judy Davis
Judy Davis
Judy Davis is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, A Passage to India and in the TV miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows....
.
His 2001 Quarterly Essay Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America won the inaugural Alfred Deakin Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Death Sentence, his book about the decay of public language, was also a best seller and won the Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year. Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words was published in 2004 and continued to encourage readers to renounce what he perceives to be meaningless corporate and government jargon that is spreading throughout Australia and embrace meaningful, precise language. More recently Watson contributed the preface to a selection of Mark Twain's writings, The Wayward Tourist.
His latest book, American Journeys is a narrative of modern America from Watson's travels in the United States following Hurricane Katrina. It was published by Knopf in 2008 and won both The Age Book of the Year
The Age Book of the Year
The Age Book of the Year Awards are annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. Since 1998 they have been presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival...
non-fiction and Book of the Year awards. It also won the 2008 Walkley Award for the best non-fiction book.
Biography
- Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PMRecollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PMRecollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM is a non-fiction political book, by Don Watson. It won The Age Book of the Year.It is his account of the prime ministership of Australia of Paul Keating.-Reviews:...
(2002) ISBN 978-1-74166-827-8
Non-Fiction
- Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language (2003) ISBN 978-1-74051-278-7
- Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words: Contemporary Cliches, Cant and Management Jargon (2004) ISBN 978-1-74051-366-1
- Bendable Learnings. The Wisdom of Modern Management. Sydney, Knopf. (2009) ISBN 978-1-74166-904-6
External links
- Don Watson at Perth Writers' Festival 2010 ABC Big Ideas
- Don Watson at Random House Australia
- The Unknown Soldier Speech
- The Wayward Tourist
- Age Article The Lives Sent Down The Drain
- Don Watson on speech-making in American politics on SlowTV
- ABC Fora MWF session with David Sedaris and David Rakoff
- Talking about Death Sentence on ABC Radio Life Matters
- Talking about Recollections of a Bleeding Heart Romana Koval - ABC Radio
- Watch a recording of the Redfern Address on australianscreen online
- The Redfern Address was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2010