Arnold Zable
Biographies
Arnold Zable is an Australian writer, novelist and human rights advocate.
His books include the memoir Jewels and Ashes, three novels: Café Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, and Sea of Many Returns, two collections of stories: The Fig Tree and Violin Lessons, and The Fighter. With his books, essays, articles, plays and others stories, Arnold shares his unique understanding of memory, history, displacement and community.
Arnold has worked in the USA, Papua New Guinea, China, and across Europe and Southeast Asia. In 1998 he worked with curators to produce the script for Victoria’s Immigration Museum. He is a university lecturer and can often be found at writers’ festivals across the country.
In 2013, Arnold received the Voltaire award for the promotion of free speech and human rights advocacy. He is a patron of Sanctuary, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, the Eastweb Foundation, the Victorian Storytellers Guild, and a former member of the Victorian Immigration Museum advisory committee. He was also president of Melbourne Centre – PEN International for many years.
Arnold Zable is the 2021 recipient of the Australia Council Lifetime Achievement in Literature.
Learn more about the 2021 Australia Council Awards.
