Craig Cormick with his book, Time Vandals, in 2012.
Craig CormickOAM is an Australian science communicator and author. He was born in
Wollongong in 1961, and is known for his creative writing and social research into public attitudes towards new technologies. He has lived mainly in
Canberra, but has also lived in
Iceland (1980–81) and
Finland (1984–85). He has published over 40 books of fiction and non-fiction, and numerous articles in refereed journals. He has been active in the Canberra writing community, teaching and editing, was Chair of the ACT Writers Centre from 2003 to 2008 and in 2006 was Writer in Residence at the
Universiti Sains Malaysia in
Penang,
Malaysia.
Craig Cormick went on to study journalism and creative writing at the
University of Canberra – both areas which he continues to work in – with stints at the
Canberra School of Art, the University of Iceland and
Helsinki University. He returned to the University of Canberra to study languages, public relations and sociology, undertake a Masters in Communications and then completed a PhD in Creative Communications at
Deakin University in 2007.
His first books were self-published or picked up by small presses until Unwritten Histories was published by
Aboriginal Studies Press in 1998. The book subsequently won the ACT Book of the Year Award and received praising reviews. His work has a strong sense of satire, across themes that include exploration, isolation, duality and
Ned Kelly (who appears at least once in each of his eight short story collections). He has written and published, on average, one book a year since 1998, including collections of short fiction, novels and non-fiction.
He has published scholarly articles on public attitudes to new technologies in publications including: NanoEthics, the International Journal of Biotechnology[3]Agricultural Science, Historia Ciencias Saude[4] (Brazil) and Choices (USA). He also authored the Australian Government reports, Cloning Goes to the Movies, and What you really need to know about what the public really thinks about GM foods.
In 2008 he fulfilled "a life's dream"[5] and travelled to
Antarctica as an Antarctic Arts Fellow, visiting the three Australian stations on the continent,
Casey,
Davis and
Mawson, publishing his experiences as In Bed with Douglas Mawson: Travels around Antarctica, in 2011, which merges his two interests of science and creative writing.
Of One Blood,
Australian Booksellers Association, 2007. [*As a manuscript, shortlisted for the Australian-Vogel Award in 1993, the National Book Council Award in 1996 and the Victorian Fellowship of Australian Writers Jim Hamilton Award in 1999].
ISBN0-9752485-7-X.
A Funny Thing Happened at 27,000 feet...,
Mockingbird Press, 2005.[*Winner of the Queensland Premier's Award – Steel Rudd Award for short fiction, 2006].
ISBN1-74027-337-0.
The Princess of Cups,
Mockingbird Press, 2003.[*Short-listed for the Queensland Premier's Award Steel Rudd Award, 2004].
ISBN1-74027-224-2.
When Angels Call, [Short fiction by Craig Cormick, Poetry by Hal Judge and illustrations by Steve Harrison), Aberrant Genotype Press, 2001.
ISBN1-876771-02-X.
Protesting the Testing: Canberra Writers Speak Out Against Nuclear Testing in the Pacific, 1995, (Left Book Club (ACT) and PEN (ACT)).
ISBN1-875285-18-0.
Ten Big Questions on Public Engagement on Science and Technology: Observation from a Rocky Boat in the Upstream and Downstream of Engagement, in DEMESCI – the International Journal of Deliberative Mechanisms in Science, [1], Volume 1, number 1, August 2012.
The Complexity of Public Engagement, in Nature Nanotechnology, [2], February 2012.
Why Do We Need to Know What the Public Thinks about Nanotechnology? NanoEthics, August 2009.
Piecing Together the Elephant: Public Engagement on Nanotechnology Challenges’, Science and Engineering Ethics, Volume 15 Number 3, 2009.