Cloudstreet

Teacher Resource Essay

Publisher's synopsis

From separate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives again from scratch. For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts. Tim Winton’s funny, sprawling saga is an epic novel of love and acceptance. Winner of the Miles Franklin and NBC Awards in Australia, Cloudstreet is a celebration of people, places and rhythms which has fuelled imaginations world-wide.

Awards

Winner 1991 Banjo Award for Australian Literature for Fiction
Winner 1992 The Miles Franklin Literary Award Prize for Writing for young Adults
Winner 2012 W.A. Premier’s Book Award for Cloudstreet (the screenplay)
Joint Winner 1992 W.A. Premier’s Book Award for Fiction
Shortlisted 1991 Colin Roderick Award for Best Book
Shortlisted 1992 3M Talking Book Award NSW for Talking Book

Other Recommended Titles

The Arrival

The Complete Stories

The Children’s Bach

The Slap

Tim Winton

Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). He lives in Western Australia.

(Image credit: Denise Winton)

"Cloudstreet, like most of Tim Winton's best work, is a search novel. Its characters are unforgettable and original, which is why the book has become a classic of its kind and been made into a successful play. Its theme is universal but the author’s particular voice is entirely idiosyncratic, and the Western Australian setting gives a special resonance."

An ASA Council Member on why this book is in the Reading Australia First 200 list.

Further Details

Author Tim Winton

Publisher Penguin Books Australia

Date of Publication 1991

ISBN 9780143569725 (print)

Category Novels

Additional AustLit information View the AustLit trail for Cloudstreet – a curated collection of additional resources specifically designed for Reading Australia.