tony maniaty

As an author, journalist, photographer, screenwriter and academic, working across a broad creative canvas, I’ve been helped by great mentors, and I've used that experience to help others with their creativity. Albert Camus said, 'We are all special cases', and that's my outlook: we're all equal, but unique in our ways. Like most writers I'm intrigued by human behavior. The great Hollywood film director Billy Wilder noted his classic movie scripts ('Ace in the Hole', 'Double Indemnity', 'Sunset Boulevard') were based on a profoundly simple question: 'What makes people do the things they do?'

We spend our lives trying to figure that out. 

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After living and working in Australia, Britain, France, the United States, Greece and Denmark, and traveling through more than thirty countries, my outlook is global. These days I move between Paris and Sydney. My father was a Greek from Asia Minor and an early immigrant to Australia, my mother's ancestry was Anglo-Saxon, and my sons have Latvian and Irish blood as well.

Cultural diversity -  sharing ideas, knowledge and experiences with others - is what makes life worth living. 

To date I've published five books. (Seeing my first novel with the Penguin logo was special.) The main themes of my work arise largely from personal experiences, my interactions with society, as well as my time as a correspondent: exploring the impacts of war, upheaval, and migration. I'm currently working on a novel about refugees and cultural displacement, and recently published a photo-book documenting the impact on Covid-19 on life in Paris. My blog covers a range of interests: cinema, journalism, history and biography, architecture and design, travel, music and - naturally - photography and literature, in all their wonderful forms. 

Awards I've received include Australia Council for the Arts Fellowships, the National Short Story of the Year Award, and the New South Wales Premier's Writers Award. The best thing about awards, apart from any monies involved, is the publicity they generate for literature and the arts. (And right now, the world badly needs creative inputs.) In recent years I've also managed to complete a PhD. My thesis on the lives and psychology of war correspondents was awarded the Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor's Commendation for Excellence.

BIO / MEDIA

Fresh out of school, I scored a journalism cadetship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. I’ve spent much of my career juggling journalism - Diplomatic Correspondent for Radio Australia, BBC World Service, Paris-based European Correspondent for SBS TV's 'Dateline', Executive Producer of ABC TV's '7.30 Report' - with photography and writing: fiction and non-fiction, articles and book reviews. I’ve scripted drama for ABC and SBS television, and produced and directed documentaries, including ‘Lithuania: Surviving the Revolution’, nominated for Best International Report in Australia’s Walkley Awards. I wrote the screenplay for Robert Connolly’s award-winning film, ‘Mr Ikegami’s Flight’, screened at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006 I moved into university lecturing in writing and journalism; my most recent academic role was Associate Professor of Creative Practice at the University of Technology Sydney. My love of photography began early - at 22, I bought my first serious camera, a Leica M3, and have been photographing the world and people ever since. These days I shoot exclusively with Leica cameras: M10 and Q.

I post my photography on Instagram, and on the StudioTettix online store where my prints are available for purchase and shipping. 

I'm available worldwide for literary festivals and conferences, moderating panels, photographic commissions, writing profiles, and guest lectures. Please use the CONTACT page for messages and media requests. I enjoy hearing from readers and writers, and colleagues in publishing, media, film and academia. 

To discuss rights to my books, contact Penguin Books: penguin.rights@penguinrandomhouse.com.au

A few of my media appearances are below, just click the button.

AUDIO

Conversations with Richard Fidler, ABC Radio. 

Late Night Live with Phillip Adams, ABC Radio National.

VIDEO

Book launch, Readings Bookstore, Melbourne.