Richard Carroll has just finished Honours (1) in Creative Writing at QUT (Nov./09), and is embarking on a PhD. He completed a BA with majors in Writing and Environmental Studies at UQ in 2006.

Richard has travelled extensively and has worked as a Farm Advisory Officer, farm labourer, vacuum cleaner salesman, English teacher and business creator and manager, among other things. He is the author of Ecosystems and Indigenous Peoples of the World, a workbook for secondary students, published in Brisbane in 2003 by Knowledge Books & Software.

Honours Thesis: The memoir At the Feet of a Giant: Memories from Provence, is a travel story and a romance. It relates how Richard met his partner in the south of France and traces his transformation from a restless unattached wanderer to a happily married, settled man. The second outcome is an exegetical work that analyses notions of authenticity in autobiography. Through a discussion of the autobiographical pact as posited by Philippe Lejeune, the thesis examines the nature of the relationship between the author and the reader.

PhD Project: The creative work is an historical novel about the life of Tom Petrie, an early Queensland pioneer. The exegesis will explore notions of authenticity in historical fiction, a constantly popular form of literary fiction. The genre’s popularity is driving new theoretical discussions about the differences between fictionalised history and historical fiction. This project will be concerned with issues of history, culture, indigenous studies and education.