Patrick White

Patrick White (1912–1990) was an Australian novelist who in 1973 became the first Australian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, cited for his "epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature." Born in London to Australian parents and educated at Cheltenham College and Cambridge, he settled in rural New South Wales after World War II with his Greek-Australian partner Manoly Lascaris. His major novels — including *Voss* (1957), *Riders in the Chariot* (1961), *The Solid Mandala* (1966), and *The Eye of the Storm* (1973) — are dense, demanding works that seek the spiritual and mythological beneath the material surface of Australian life. He was openly gay in an era when homosexuality was criminalized in Australia, and used the Nobel Prize money to establish the Patrick White Literary Award for neglected Australian authors. Patrick White lived 1912 – 1990.