Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas (born 1965) is an Australian author.
Early life.
Tsiolkas was born and raised in Melbourne with his Greek immigrant parents, and was educated at Blackburn High School. Tsiolkas completed his Arts Degree at the University of Melbourne in 1987. He edited the student newspaper "Farrago" in 1987.
Career.
Tsiolkas' first novel, "Loaded" (1995), about an alienated closet gay youth in Melbourne, was adapted as the feature film "Head On" (1998) by director Ana Kokkinos, starring Alex Dimitriades. In 2006, his novel "Dead Europe" won The Age Book of the Year fiction award and was adapted into a film in 2012. In 2009, his fourth novel, "The Slap", won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009 for best novel in the South-East Asia and South Pacific area. "The Slap" has been turned into both an Australian and U.S. television miniseries. "Barracuda" was adapted for television in 2016.
Tsiolkas' 2019 novel "Damascus" won the 2020 Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction.
Personal life.
Tsiolkas is a Richmond Football Club supporter and gay. He lives with his partner in Melbourne.