Sandy
McCutcheon

Speaker Profile

Sandy McCutcheon was brought up in New Zealand and moved to Australia in the 1970s. Most of his working life has been spent in either radio or theatre. He has written 22 plays that have been professionally produced.

Sandy was the founder of the Illusion Farm Community, a Buddhist centre in the mountains of Tasmania that provided rest and retreat facilities free of charge for people in need. The Farm also provided the base for the Illusion Circus Theatre Company which toured many of his plays.

In his broadcasting career, Sandy has worked in both commercial and public radio with the highlights being his time on Double Jay and his present position as the producer/presenter of 'Australia Talks Back' heard around Australia on Radio National and overseas through Radio Australia.

He has produced radio documentaries in many parts of the world including Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Mozambique, South Africa and North and South Sudan. In Finland he has worked with the Finnish National Broadcaster. He has a strong connection with Finland where he lived and worked on a scholarship from the Finnish Government. Sandy’s radio work has been recognised with awards in Australia and at the prestigious New York
Radio Festival Awards. He has been awarded the International Kalevala Medal by the Finnish Government for services to Finnish culture.

In Wolf’s Clothing, Sandy’s first novel, grew out of a comedy written in the 1980s for a theatre company. The thriller was entered in the HarperCollins National Fiction Prize in 1995 and was shortlisted out of a field of 400. Sandy’s subsequent two novels, Peace Crimes and Poison Tree are thrilling novels of murder and political intrigue and feature Savva Golitsyn, the hero of In Wolf's Clothing.

The latest novels, Safe Haven, Delicate Indecencies and The Haha Man have all built on his reputation as Australia's leader in the field of political thrillers. He has also written a childrens book called Blik! which, like Delicate Indecencies and Poison Tree is available as an audio book. Sandy McCutcheon and his wife - photojournalist Suzanna Clarke - have recently purchased a riad in the old medina of Fez in Morocco but currently live in Brisbane where he is working on a new novel. His memoir, The Magician's Son, was published by Penguin in July 2005 to great reviews. It is now on the best seller list.

A new version of Quirky Questions will be published in August 2005 by Penguin. Sandy has just sold the world rights to two new novels: The Cobbler's Apprentice and Black Widow. Black Widow is an extraodinary fictional reaction to the Beslan tragedy. It will be published in early 2006 by Scribe. The Cobbler's Apprentice will be published Christmas 2006. In April Sandy started work on a new novel, Margret's Door. Sandy will be appearing at the Melbourne, Brisbane and Byron Bay Writers' Festivals in 2005 and Adelaide in 2006. A revival of his play The Truce opened in Adelaide in May 2005 and received great reviews. It is intended to travel to the Edinburgh Festival 2006.

Travels from Queensland