Non-fiction

A Brief History of Thought – Unfinished

Published in November 2023, A Brief History of Thought – Unfinished is a collection of John Bryson’s essays and poems, with drawings by leading architect and John’s friend, Richard Leplastrier AO

Read more

Australian orders

International orders

For international orders please visit Amazon

The Novels

Evil Angels

A documentary novel of the ‘Dingo Baby Case,’ now a feature film starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill, print volumes by Penguin Books and Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Bantam and Notable Trials Library USA. Film titled in the USA A Cry in the Dark.

Translations to:

  • French, Le Chien du Desert Rouge, Actes Sud, Toulouse.
  • German, Ein Schrei in der Dunkelheit, Bastei Lubbe.
  • Japanese, 邪悪な天使, Shoten Tokyo.
  • Chinese, 邪恶的天使, Crown Taiwan.
  • Italian, Un Grido Nella Notte, Sperling & Kupfer.
  • Portuguese, Um Grito No Escuro, Editora Record Brasil.
  • Swedish, Ett Skrik I Morket, Bonniers Grafiska.
  • Greek, Kpauyn oto Okotadi, Plaza.

The Conversation E-Magazine, March 5th 2014 asked, “If you had to argue for the merits of one Australian book, one piece of writing, what would it be?” Here is “The Case for John Bryson’s Evil Angels” by Professor Kieran Dolin, English and Cultural Studies, University of Western Australia.

Read more

To the Death, Amic

A novel of boyhood in the Resistance to the Fascist dictatorship of the Spanish Civil War, first published by Penguin Books through Viking and Hamish Hamilton UK. Translation to Spanish, Hasta la Muerte, Amigo, Editorial Milenio, Spain.

Read more

Fancygoods Over the Mountains

A novella of expatriates set in Papua New Guinea. First published by Antipodes Journal, Austin, Texas.

Read more

Whoring Around

A novella in six stories of a series first published by Penguin Books Ltd.

Stories of a world where scruples are fair exchange for the currencies of fortune and inheritance, where the avarice of generations has carved indelible patterns into the lives of Bryson’s heroes and their progeny ....... leaving Humphrey sanctimoniously whoring his way through Asia

— Penguin Books

Read more

The Empirical Pieces, Reportage

Bryson has the skills of literary journalism, and abundant luck. (He) gives us essential truths about the way things work: the realpolitik of forces over our lives. This is the way the world goes.

Penguin Books.

In Rage, to Rebellion

A volume in three pieces

  • Backstage at the Revolution, treating the African National Congress’ theatre troupe,
  • Red Ragger, profile of a disgruntled communist, and
  • The Elemental Physick of Wrath, on the ignition of anger.
Read more

A Long Weekend in Belfast

a novella sized piece covering the Ulster riots of 1986, fighting and intrigue between the Protestant brigades and the IRA.

Read more

Islanders, Far South

three feature pieces on southern fishing communities,

  • The Oldest Abalone Diver in the Business,
  • Pride of the Crayfish Fleet,
  • Digging Holes in the Sea,

and a fourth voyage,

  • Tasmania, a Lovesong.
Read more

Among the Very Foreign

four feature pieces from Kalimantan, Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong, and one column piece from Samarinda.

  • His Brow in Feathers, the Dyak Chieftain and His Equation for the Order of Time,
  • Bugis Street Shoes,
  • A Good Pirate Crew Can Swarm Sitting Down,
  • Borneo Ferry,
  • Parties All Over Town, which covered the Hong Kong Handover for News Limited.
Read more