22 Facts About Bruce Pascoe

Bruce Pascoe was born on 1947 and is an Australian writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children's literature.

Bruce Pascoe grew up in a poor working-class family; his father, Alf, was a carpenter, and his mother, Gloria Pascoe, went on to win a gold medal in lawn bowls at the 1980 Arnhem Paralympics.

Bruce Pascoe spent his early years on King Island where his father worked at the tungsten mine.

Bruce Pascoe's family moved to Mornington, Victoria, when he was 10 years old, and then two years later moved to the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner.

Bruce Pascoe attended the local state school before completing his secondary education at University High School, where his sister had won an academic scholarship.

Bruce Pascoe went on to attend the University of Melbourne, initially studying commerce but then transferring to Melbourne State College.

Bruce Pascoe came into conflict with existing publishers and instead decided to form his own company, raising 10,000 in capital with his friend Lorraine Phelan.

Bruce Pascoe ran Pascoe Publishing and Seaglass Books with his wife, Lyn Harwood.

From 1982 to 1998 Bruce Pascoe edited and published a new quarterly magazine of short fiction, Australian Short Stories, which published all forms of short stories by both established and new writers, including Helen Garner, Gillian Mears and Tim Winton.

Bruce Pascoe featured in the award-winning documentary series which aired on SBS Television in 2008, First Australians, has been Director of Commonwealth Australian Studies project for the Commonwealth Schools Commission, and has worked extensively on preserving the Wathaurong language, producing a dictionary of the language.

Bruce Pascoe argues that his examination of early settler accounts and other sources provides evidence of agriculture, aquaculture, engineering and villages of permanent housing in traditional Aboriginal societies.

Bruce Pascoe was one of the readers, along with Jeanine Leane, Dub Leffler, Melissa Lucashenko, Jared Thomas and Ellen van Neerven.

Bruce Pascoe identified himself as Koori by the age of 40.

Bruce Pascoe said that his family denied their own Aboriginality for a long time, and it was only when he investigated the "glaring absences" in the family's story that he was drawn into Aboriginal society and culture.

In January 2020, Bruce Pascoe said he believed allegations that he is not Aboriginal are motivated by wanting to discredit Dark Emu.

Bruce Pascoe had already responded to the Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council's rejection of his connection to the Bunurong, saying his connection was through the Tasmanian family, not through Central Victorian Bunurong.

However, Mansell acknowledged that some Indigenous leaders including Marcia Langton and Ken Wyatt supported Bruce Pascoe's Aboriginality based on his claim to community recognition.

Bruce Pascoe has not addressed this and has been persistently vague about who his Aboriginal ancestors are and where they came from.

Bruce Pascoe was nominated as Person of the Year at the National Dreamtime Awards 2018, and was invited by Yuin elder Max Dulumunmum Harrison to a special cultural ceremony lasting several days.

In 1982, Bruce Pascoe separated from a woman whom he had married after graduating from college.

Bruce Pascoe is working for his family-run company, Black Duck Foods, which is aiming to produce the type of Indigenous produce mentioned in Dark Emu on a commercial scale.

Bruce Pascoe has written under the names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass.