Thea Astley

This article is about the Australian novelist. For the Filipino singer with the same name, see Thea Astley (singer).
Thea Astley
AO
Born
Beatrice May Astley

(1925-08-25)25 August 1925
Brisbane, Queensland
Died17 August 2004(2004-08-17) (aged 78)
Tugun, Queensland
Other namesPhillip Cressy, Thea Gregson
Occupation(s)Novelist and short story writer
SpouseJack Gregson
ChildrenEd Gregson

Thea Beatrice May Astley AO (25 August 1925 – 17 August 2004) was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer. As well as being a writer, she taught at all levels of education – primary, secondary and tertiary.

Astley has a significant place in Australian letters as she was "the only woman novelist of her generation to have won early success and published consistently throughout the 1960s and 1970s, when the literary world was heavily male-dominated".[1]

  1. ^ "Introduction" in Sheridan, Susan and Genomi, Paul (eds) (2008) Thea Astley's Fictional Worlds, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing