Craig Cormick

Craig Cormick in an Australian science communicator and award-winning author. He was born a twin in Wollongong in 1961, and is known for his creative writing and social research into public attitudes towards new technologies.

He has lived mainly in Canberra, but has also lived overseas in Iceland (1980–81) and Finland (1984–85). He has published 15 books of fiction and non-fiction, as well as numerous articles in refereed journals.

Cormick's creative writing has appeared in most of Australia's literary journals including Southerly, Westerly, Island, Meanjin, The Phoenix Review, Overland, Scarp, 4W, Redoubt, Block, as well as in overseas publications including Silverfish New Writing (Malaysia) and Foreign Literature No 6 (China). He has previously been an editor of the radical arts magazine Blast, and his writing awards include the ACT Book of the Year Award in 1999 and a Queensland Premier's Award in 2006. As a science communicator he has represented the Australian Government at many international science forums including APEC and OECD conferences, presenting on issues relating to public concerns about new technologies.

Literary career

Craig Cormick began writing very young while still at school and went on to study journalism and creative writing at the University of Canberra - both areas which he continues to work in - with stints at the Canberra School of Art, the University of Iceland and Helsinki University. He subsequently returned to the University of Canberra to study languages, public relations and sociology, undertake a Masters in Communications and then completed a PhD in Creative Communications at Deakin University in 2007.

He has been active in the Canberra writing community, teaching and editing, was Chair of the ACT Writers Centre for several years, from 2003 to 2008, and in 2006 was Writer in Residence at the University of Science in Penang, Malaysia.

Despite winning many writing awards and being widely published in literary journals, his first books were self-published or picked up by micro-presses until Unwritten Histories was published by Aboriginal Studies Press in 1998. The book subsequently won the ACT Book of the Year Award and received wide and praising reviews, encouraging him to continue merging historical fact and fiction in his writing. His work is distinguished by a strong sense of satire, across themes that include exploration, isolation, duality and Ned Kelly (who appears at least once in each of his eight short story collections).

He has written and published, on average, one book a year since 1998 (not counting several unpublished manuscripts), including collections of short fiction, novels and non-fiction.

At the same time he has published scholarly articles on public attitudes to new technologies in publications including: NanoEthics, the International Journal of Biotechnology, Agricultural Science, Historia Ciencias Saude (Brazil) and Choices (USA). He also authored the Australian Government reports, Cloning Goes to the Movies, and What you really need to know about what the public really thinks about GM foods.

In 2008 he fulfilled "a life's dream"^[1] and travelled to Antarctica as an Antarctic Arts Fellow, visiting the three Australian stations on the continent, Casey, Davis and Mawson, publishing his experiences in In Bed with Douglas Mawson: travels around Antarctica, in 2011, which merges his two interests of science and creative writing.

Writing Awards

• 2010 - Shortlisted for the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards 2010.

• 2006 – Winner of Queensland Premier’s Award (Steele Rudd Award for a collection of short fiction).

• 2004 – Short-listed for a Queensland Premier’s Award (Steele Rudd Award for a collection of short fiction).

• 2000 - Second Prize in the Age Short Story Contest.

• 2000 - Second Prize in the University of Canberra Short Story contest.

• 2000 - Nominated for ACT Artist of the Year.

• 1999 - ACT Book of the Year Award.

• 1999 - Highly commended in the Victorian Fellowship of Australian Writers Jim Hamilton Award.

• 1998 - First Prize in the Max Harris Literary Awards.

• 1998 - First Prize in the Arts West Writing Competition.

• 1998 - Second Prize in the Not the Premier's Literary Award.

• 1998 – Second Prize in the R Carson Gold Short Story Competition.

• 1998 - Shortlisted for the ANU/Anutech short story award.

• 1997 - Canberra Critics Circle award for literature.

• 1995 - Shortlisted for the ANU/Anutech short story award.

• 1996 - Highly commended in the National Book Council Award.

• 1993 - Shortlisted for the Australian-Vogel Award.

Works

Books Published

• Shipwrecks of the Southern Seas, Murdoch Books, 2011. ISBN 9781741967876.
• In Bed with Douglas Mawson, New Holland Press, 2011. ISBN 9781742570082.
• Futures Trading, Mockingbird Press, 2009.[*Shortlisted for the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards 2010]. ISBN 9781740275606.
• The Last Super: The creation and recreation of Alexander Pearce, the 'cannibal convict' of Van Diemen's Land, Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009. ISBN 9783838330204.
• Of One Blood, Australian Booksellers Association, 2007. [*As a manuscript, shortlisted for the Australian-Vogel Award in 1993, the National Book Council Award in 1996 and the Victorian Fellowship of Australian Writers Jim Hamilton Award in 1999]. ISBN 097524857X.
• The Prince of Frogs, Mockingbird Press, 2007. ISBN 9781740274357/
• A Funny Thing Happened at 27,000 feet..., Mockingbird Press, 2005.[*Winner of the Queensland Premier’s Award - Steel Rudd Award for short fiction, 2006]. ISBN 1740273370.
• The Princess of Cups, Mockingbird Press, 2003.[*Short-listed for the Queensland Premier’s Award Steel Rudd Award, 2004]. ISBN 1740272242.
• DIG: the Unwritten History of Burke and Wills, Ginninderra Press, 2002. ISBN 1740271386.
• The Queen of Aegae, Mockingbird Press, 2001. ISBN 174027086X.
• When Angels Call, [Short fiction by Craig Cormick, Poetry by Hal Judge and illustrations by Steve Harrison), Aberrant Genotype Press, 2001. ISBN 187677102X.
• Kurikka's Dreaming, Simon and Schuster, 2000. [*featured on ABC Radio National's Australia Talks Books, May 2001]. ISBN 0731810244.
• The King of Patagonia, Mockingbird Press, 1999. ISBN 1740270193.
• Unwritten Histories Aboriginal Studies Press, 1998. [*Winner of the 1999 ACT Chief Minister's Book of the Year Award]. ISBN 0855753161.
• Pimplemania, MacMillan Educational, 1997. ISBN 0732946131.

Books Edited

• Snapshots, Oak Publications, Malaysia, 2006. ISBN 9789833735037.
• Co-editor of Meeting of Muses, Mockingbird Press, 2003. ISBN 1740271777.
• Co-editor of The Circulatory System, Mockingbird Press, 2001. ISBN 1740271122.
• Co-editor of Time Pieces, Mockingbird Press, 1999. [*Commended in the Victorian FAW Community Writer's Award, 1999]. ISBN 1876259833.
• Protesting the Testing: Canberra Writers Speak Out Against Nuclear Testing in the Pacific, 1995, (Left Book Club (ACT) and PEN (ACT)). ISBN 1875285180.

Academic publications

• Why Do We Need to Know What the Public Thinks about Nanotechnology? NanoEthics, August 2009.
• Piecing Together the Elephant: Public Engagement on Nanotechnology Challenges’, Science and Engineering Ethics, Volume 15 Number 3, 2009.
• What do the Public Really Think and Who do they Really Trust, in Human Biotechnology and Public Trust, Centre for Law and Genetics, University of Tasmania, 2008.
• Public Attitudes Towards GM Crops and Foods, Agricultural Science, Volume 21, No 2 – September 2007.
• A clonagem vai ao cinema, Historia Ciencias Saude, Manghinhos, Brazil, Volume 13, October 2006.
• Lies Deep Fries and Statistics,Choices, USA. 2005.
• Perceptions of Risk Relating to Biotechnology in Australia, International Journal of Biotechnology. Vol 5, No 2, 2003.
• Recent Changes in Public Attitudes Towards Biotechnology in Australia, Australian Biologist, Vol.15 (2), September 2002.
• Australian Attitudes to GM Foods and Crops, Pesticide Outlook, Royal Society of Chemistry, December, 2002.

External links

• http://www.aawp.org.au/files/u280/cormick.pdf
• http://www.newholland.com.au/authordetail.php?first=Craig&last=Cormick&number=393
• http://site.calidrislitagency.com/authors/#craigcormick
• http://verityla.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/the-last-islands-in-the-world-craig-cormick/

Notes

1. ^ A Voyage Around Mawson, The Canberra Times, 18 June 2010.

References

• http://www.newholland.com.au/authordetail.php?first=Craig&last=Cormick&number=393
• http://business.highbeam.com/437587/article-1G1-149123706/magic-past-perspective
• http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/atbooks/s248412.htm
• http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/admin/pubs/reports/database/dynamic/output/person/person.php?person_code=cormicr