Gary Crew

Gary David Crew (born 23 September 1947) is an Australian writer of young adult fiction.

Life

Gary Crew was born in Brisbane, Queensland on 23 September 1947. An illness during childhood kept him home from school but enabled him to develop an interest in reading adventure stories.

Crew first trained as a design draftsman and he worked in this field for ten years. When he decided to become a teacher, his family responsibilities prevented him from accepting an art scholarship and he trained as an English teacher instead. While teaching, he also gained a Master of Arts in Literature from Queensland University.

Crew was prompted to begin writing in order to provide relevant reading material for his school students. In 1986, he published his first novel, The Inner Circle and, by 1989, he had left teaching to write full time. Since then, he has written numerous books and won many awards. He has specialised in the areas of Teenage Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Children’s Picture Books.

Crew and his wife Christine have three children, Rachel, Sarah, and Joel. Their daughters both have law degrees and Joel is a professional golfer and golf club manager.

Crew and Christine live in the mountains of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Crew is a graduate of the University of the Sunshine Coast and is now an Associate Professor there; he lectures in Creative Writing.

Awards

Crew has won the Australian Children's Book of the Year on four occasions.

Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers

• 1991 Strange Objects
• 1994 Angel's Gate

Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book

• 1994 First Light (Illustrator Peter Gouldthorpe)
• 1995 The Watertower (Illustrator Stephen Woolman)

Alan Marshall Prize for Children's Literature

• 1991 Strange Objects

New South Wales Premier's Award

• 1991 Strange Objects

• "Gary Crew | Harbour Publishing House - Ulladulla". www.harbourpublishing.com.au. Retrieved 2016-08-07. 
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