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12 Facts About Barry Dickins

1.

Barry Dickins was born on 6 November 1949 and is a prolific Australian playwright, author, artist, actor, educator and journalist, probably best known for his historical dramas and his reminiscences about growing up and living in working class Melbourne.

2.

Barry Dickins has written dramas and comedies about other controversial figures such as poet Sylvia Plath, opera singer Joan Sutherland, criminal Squizzy Taylor, actor Frank Thring, playwright Oscar Wilde and artist Brett Whiteley.

3.

Barry Dickins has written a further 50 since then, along with numerous short stories, biographies, opinion pieces, essays and children's books.

4.

Barry Dickins's play Remember Ronald Ryan won the 1995 Victorian Premier's Literary Award.

5.

Barry Dickins had a long career as an educator, spending 41 years teaching English and creative writing at various schools in Melbourne.

6.

Barry Dickins has made numerous appearances on the stage and on the screen.

7.

Barry Dickins's first acting role was in Barry Oakley's The Ship's Whistles, which was staged in 1978 at the Pram Factory Front Theatre, under the direction of Paul Hampton.

8.

Barry Dickins had guest roles on the television shows Winners and Wedlocked.

9.

Barry Dickins's most recent stage performance was a dramatic reading of the monologue Ryan, which was performed as part of a QandA event held at Melbourne based bookshop, Collected Works.

10.

In 2015, Barry Dickins became a Writer-in-Residence and Creative Writing lecturer at Victoria University in Footscray, Melbourne.

11.

Barry Dickins held the position for less than 12 months, before being unexpectedly let go by the campus coordinators during the Christmas break.

12.

In June 2017 Barry Dickins was found guilty of making a false police report after claiming officers had conducted an improper strip search upon him.