Keneally, Thomas Michael (1935– )

Australian novelist and playwright. He is known for his historical fiction. He won the Booker Prize with Schindler's Ark (1982; filmed as Schindler's List 1993), a novel based on the true account of Polish Jews saved from the gas chambers in World War II by a German industrialist. Other works include Woman of the Inner Sea (1992) and Bettany's Book (2000).

Keneally was born in Sydney, Australia. He studied for the Catholic priesthood but left before ordination. He has won the Miles Franklin Award on two occasions with Bring Larks and Heroes (1967), set amid the brutality and corruption of a penal colony, and Three Cheers for the Paraclete (1968), which deals with a young priest's conflict with his superiors. Other works include A Dutiful Daughter (1971), The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972; filmed 1978), Blood Red, Sister Rose (1974), Confederates (1980), A Family Madness (1986), To Asmara (1989), A River Town (1995), and The Great Shame (1998).