TRENT DALTON

Trent Dalton writes like he’s trying to save someone – maybe a kid, maybe himself, maybe me and you. I started reading his works around the same time as three things happened in my life: I had my second daughter, I started battling the Sunday Scaries except it was every second of my life and not just Sundays, and I discovered an incredible podcast called Heavyweight.

Reading Boy Swallows Universe, listening to Heavyweight, and seeing that glorious little chubba second daughter helped me brush the Everyday Scaries away. Turns out consuming creativity helps me get back into the present. So I’m thankful for these stories.

Dalton is the author of Boy Swallows Universe, All Our Shimmering Skies, Love Stories and Lola in the Mirror (and a few others) – books that leave bruises and beauty in equal measure.

Boy Swallows Universe became a literary phenomenon and has been adapted into a Netflix series. This seven-part series has received critical acclaim and quite frankly paints a beter picture of suburban Brisbane than any work that has come before it (in my opinion).

Love Stories – his tender, street-level ode to human connection – has been made into a stage production. The play premiered at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Playhouse in 2024 as part of the Brisbane Festival. Adapted by Tim McGarry, with additional writing by Dalton and Fiona Franzmann, and directed by Sam Strong, the production weaves together real-life tales of love, capturing the essence of Dalton’s original work.

Before he was a bestselling novelist, Dalton was one of Australia’s most respected journalists – a two-time Walkley Award winner who made a career out of listening carefully and writing fearlessly. And that same journalistic heartbeat pulses through every line of his fiction.

Dalton writes Brisbane like no one else. Not the sun-soaked postcard, but the one that breathes behind the curtain – full of fibro homes, fractured families, hidden worlds and wild magic. His characters earn your sympathy. And his stories don’t flinch. They tell the truth and then hand you a torch to look deeper.

If you’ve landed here, chances are you’ve read something of his that stayed with you. Something that made you feel seen or safe or shaken in a way you didn’t expect. This site is here to celebrate that – to explore the books and the stories behind them.

The books listed here include links to buy – some are affiliate links, which means a small percentage goes towards keeping this site running. No gimmicks. Just a quiet thank you for supporting good stories and creativity.

And creativity saved my soul.