Gregory David Roberts

Gregory David Roberts is a celebrated Australian author and poet best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Shantaram. Published in 2003, the novel follows the adventures of hero Lin, an escaped convict embarking on a spiritual journey through the slums of Mumbai. Shantaram quickly became a bestseller in Australia and around the world, selling over 6 million copies and spawning a Novex adaptation.

Born Gregory John Peter Smith in 1952 in Endeavour Hills, Victoria, Roberts had an early career in high-level crime, joining a gang of car thieves and serving a prison sentence for 19 different counts of armed robbery, including participating in a successful break-out from Pentridge Prison in 1980. Following his escape, he fled to India, where he remained for the next decade.

His experiences of the slums and underworld of Mumbai, where he assumed the identity of a bushido teacher, were the genesis of Shantaram, which has since gone on to become a literary classic. The novel has been translated into 44 different languages and has been widely acclaimed by critics and readers alike. It won “Book of the Year” in 2005 at the Australian Book Industry Awards, and was shortlisted for the IMPAC (International Dublin) Literary Prize in 2004.

Roberts followed Shantaram with The Mountain Shadow (2008) and The Riksha Driver (2009), the final parts in his trilogy continuing the story of his beloved hero Lin. Through his writing, Roberts has shown a deep commitment to social justice and human rights, mirroring his own struggles with the law. He has been vocal on issues ranging from refugee rights, to the rights of the homeless, to drug rehabilitation and poverty.

In addition to his fiction writing, Roberts is also a renowned poet, writing beautiful and sympathetic poetry about human suffering and injustice. The overarching theme of these poems is tolerance, of both self and others – something he feels is especially relevant in today’s divided world. His most notable poems include “A Lullaby for Honourable Ghosts”, “Grief is a Dance” and “Hope is a Poisoned Bird”.

Overall, Roberts has made an indelible mark on Australian literature, contributing profoundly to the genre of realistic fiction, and he is widely considered one of Australia’s greatest contemporary authors. His works have been recognised and praised throughout the world, and his books regularly appear on bestseller lists. Roberts is celebrated not just for his work as a writer, but also for his commitment to social justice, which has served to make Shantaram and his other books powerful and meaningful pieces of literature.