Trent Dalton

Dalton was born in Ipswich, Queensland, the youngest of four sons.^[2][3] He spent his early childhood living with his mother and stepfather in Brassall.^[2] Both sold heroin and spent time in jail.^[4] When he was seven years old, his mother was sent to prison for two years for smuggling drugs. Dalton spent the following 12 months living with his paternal grandparents.^[1] After that he lived with his father in a Housing Commission house in Bracken Ridge, a suburb on the northern outskirts of Brisbane.^[5][6] For a few years in their teens, Dalton and one of his brothers lived with his mother.^[1]

After high school, Dalton studied journalism for one year at University of Southern Queensland then another year at Queensland University of Technology.^[7][5] In 2024 Dalton became an honorary fellow at University of Southern Queensland.^[8]

After being recommended by a QUT tutor, Dalton was hired in 2000 as a writer for Brisbane News, a free weekly magazine.^[3][6] He then worked as a journalist for The Courier-Mail.^[3] As of April 2024^[update], he works as a staff writer for The Weekend Australian Magazine.^[9]

In 2011 Dalton published Detours: Stories from the Street, a book containing profiles of 20 people he had interviewed who were living on the street, or at risk of becoming homeless.^[6][10]

In 2018 he published the semi-autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe through 4th Estate,^[11][12] which was longlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award.^[13] In May 2019 the television adaptation rights for Boy Swallows Universe were secured by Anonymous Content, Chapter One and Hopscotch Features.^[14] A seven-episode limited series was commissioned by Netflix and released in January 2024.^[15] The Queensland Theatre Company also developed a play from the novel,^[16][17] which premiered in September 2021 at the Brisbane Festival.^[18]

In 2020 Dalton published his second novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, which is also centred around words and storytelling.^[19] In 2021, Dalton published Love Stories, a collection of love stories gathered from street-corner interviews with passersby.^[20]

Dalton's third novel, Lola in the Mirror, was released in October 2023.^[21]

Dalton has two daughters with his wife Fiona.^[3]

• —— (2018). Boy Swallows Universe (hardcover 1st ed.). New York: Harper. ISBN 9780062898104.
• —— (2020). All Our Shimmering Skies (paperback 1st ed.). Sydney: HarperCollins Australia. ISBN 9781460753903.
• —— (2023). Lola in the Mirror (paperback 1st ed.). Sydney: 4th Estate. ISBN 9781460759837.
• —— (2025). Gravity let me go (paperback 1st ed.). Sydney: HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 9781460759851.

• —— (2011). Detours: Stories from the Street (paperback ed.). Fortitude Valley: Celeste Davidson. ISBN 9780646558677.
• —— (2018). By Sea & Stars: The Story of the First Fleet (hardcover 1st ed.). Sydney: 4th Estate. ISBN 9781460757413.^α
• —— (2021). Love Stories (hardcover 1st ed.). 4th Estate. ISBN 9781460760932.

^α Originally published as a multi-part series in The Australian.

• Walkley Awards
  • 2011: Winner: Social Equity Journalism for "Home is where the hurt is"^[22]
  • 2015: Winner: Feature Writing Short (under 4000 words) for "The Ghosts of Murray Street"^[23]
  • 2020: Shortlisted: Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) for "Back From The Black"^{[citation needed]}

• Australian Book Industry Awards
  • 2021: Shortlisted: Literary Fiction Book of the Year All Our Shimmering Skies^[33]
• Indie Book Awards
  • 2021: Shortlisted: Fiction All Our Shimmering Skies^[34]
  • 2022: Shortlisted: Nonfiction Love Stories^[35]
  • 2024: Shortlisted: Fiction Lola in the Mirror^[36]
• Queensland Literary Awards
  • 2019: Shortlisted: Queensland Premier's Literary Award for a work of State Significance, for Boy Swallows Universe^[37]
  • 2019: Shortlisted: The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award, for Boy Swallows Universe