Mark Mordue

The bestselling, award-winning and critically acclaimed biography of the young Nick Cave, by award-winning writer, Mark Mordue. Shortlisted for the ABIA Biography Book of the Year 2021 A deeply beautiful, profound and poetic biography of the formative years of the dark prince of Australian rock 'n' roll, Boy on Fire is Nick Cave's creation story. This is a portrait of the artist as, first, a boy, and then a young man. It charts his family, friends, influences, milieu and, most of all, his music, revealing how Nick Cave shaped himself into the extraordinary artist he has become. As well as a powerfully compelling biography of a singular, uncompromising artist, Boy on Fire is a fascinating social and cultural biography, a vivid and evocative rendering of the people, time and places that went into the making of Nick Cave – from the fast-running dark river and ghost gums of Wangaratta and the punk scene that hit staid 1970s Melbourne like an atom bomb, right through to the torn wallpaper, sticky carpet and manic energy of nights at St Kilda's Crystal Ballroom. Boy on Fire is a stunning biographical achievement. PRAISE FOR BOY ON FIRE: 'Mordue's exploration of Cave's protean and dynamic artistic universe, and the boy at its heart – malanderer, badlander and fabulator – is rich, sensitive, rollicking and, yes, tender' The Australian 'Boy On Fire is a beautiful book, evocative and sensual, yet with an even-handed and at times critical treatment of its subject' Sydney Review of Books 'All the relevant voices have their say, creating a wonderfully alive picture of this tumultuous time in modern Australian music ... on the page they glint with vitality and humour ... written with mercurial flair.' Books+Publishing

The Young Nick Cave

Boy On Fire

The bestselling, award-winning and critically acclaimed biography of the young Nick Cave, by award-winning writer, Mark Mordue. Shortlisted for the ABIA Biography Book of the Year 2021 A deeply beautiful, profound and poetic biography of the formative years of the dark prince of Australian rock 'n' roll, Boy on Fire is Nick Cave's creation story. This is a portrait of the artist as, first, a boy, and then a young man. It charts his family, friends, influences, milieu and, most of all, his music, revealing how Nick Cave shaped himself into the extraordinary artist he has become. As well as a powerfully compelling biography of a singular, uncompromising artist, Boy on Fire is a fascinating social and cultural biography, a vivid and evocative rendering of the people, time and places that went into the making of Nick Cave - from the fast-running dark river and ghost gums of Wangaratta and the punk scene that hit staid 1970s Melbourne like an atom bomb, right through to the torn wallpaper, sticky carpet and manic energy of nights at St Kilda's Crystal Ballroom. Boy on Fire is a stunning biographical achievement. PRAISE FOR BOY ON FIRE: 'Mordue's exploration of Cave's protean and dynamic artistic universe, and the boy at its heart - malanderer, badlander and fabulator - is rich, sensitive, rollicking and, yes, tender' The Australian 'Boy On Fire is a beautiful book, evocative and sensual, yet with an even-handed and at times critical treatment of its subject' Sydney Review of Books 'All the relevant voices have their say, creating a wonderfully alive picture of this tumultuous time in modern Australian music ... on the page they glint with vitality and humour ... written with mercurial flair.' Books+Publishing

Boy on Fire

Stephen Abbott

Warren Coleman

Terence Crawford

This book documents the gathering of talent that was nurtured in Newcastle, becoming the influential group 'The Castanet Club' in 1982. A series of life story accounts from the members of the Castanet Club and their co-conspiritors, musicians, comedians, designers, management, technicians and visual artists. The questions 'How did it come about?' and 'Where are they all now?' were put to as many ex-members as I could locate to build a picture of the life and influence of this cabaret group.

Tales of an Artistic Collective Born in Newcastle 1982-1991- from Those Who Were There

The CASTANET CLUB: a Newcastle Story

An intensely beautiful, profound and poetic biography of the formative years of the dark prince of rock 'n' roll, Boy on Fire is Nick Cave's creation story, a portrait of the artist first as a boy, then as a young man. A deeply insightful work which charts his family, friends, influences, milieu and, most of all, his music, it reveals how Nick Cave shaped himself into the extraordinary artist he would become. A powerful account of a singular, uncompromising artist, Boy on Fire is also a vivid and evocative rendering of a time and place, from the fast-running dark rivers and ghost gums of country-town Australia to the torn wallpaper, sticky carpet and manic energy of the nascent punk scene which hit staid 1970s Melbourne like an atom bomb. Boy on Fire is a stunning biographical achievement.

Darlinghurst Funeral Rites is a collection of poems by the writer and journalist Mark Mordue. It's also a song cycle that takes the reader on a journey through Mark's experiences in the Sydney post-punk music scene of the 1980s. It begins with his arrival in the big city, his immersion in the culture and the spirit of the times, his deep contact with bands, art and films as a leading rock journalist of the era, the corresponding hedonism and bohemianism that characterised iconic suburbs like Newtown, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst, and the disintegration of that world as a relationship ends and drugs, disillusion and displacement overtake people's lives. The nature of the book is effectively a Dante-esque journey though Sydney in the post-punk 1980s. As such it is both a personal and a cultural history of the times: a creative history and internalised autobiography of a now mythical era.

Darlinghurst Funeral Rites

AWARD-WINNING AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST Mark Mordue invites you on his world trip that ranges from a Rolling Stones concert in Istanbul to talking with mullahs and junkies in Tehran, and from a cricket match in Calcutta to an S&M bar in New York, in addition to many points in between. Mordue chronicles his year-long global journey with his girlfriend, Lisa Nicol, exploring countries most Americans never see as well as issues of world citizenship in the 21st century. Written in the tradition of literary journalism, Dastgah will take you to all kinds of places, across the world ... and inside yourself.

Mark Mordue

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