Robert Hillman is a Victorian based novelist and biographer who splits his working week between the Melbourne suburb of Carlton and the Upper Yarra Valley. He grew up in rural Victoria but left Australia in his mid-teens to wander the world. Now a full-time writer, Robert has also had broad experience as a teacher and lecturer.

Robert’s publications include such highly-praised novels as The Deepest Part of the Lake and The Hour of Disguise. His memoir of his travels as a teenager, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the 2005 Australian National Biography Award. He collaborated with Zarah Ghahramani on the 2007 biography, My Life as a Traitor, published in Australia, the United States and the UK in 2007. My Life as a Traitor has been shortlisted for the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Award. A second collaboration, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif, written with Najaf Mazari, came out in 2008.

Robert most recent books highlight his interest in the plight of refugees seeking asylum in Australia. His articles on the subject of refugees have appeared in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He is a regular speaker at schools and colleges.

VCE Contexts

Robert’s writing illuminates the issues under discussion in a number of the VCE Context studies, particularly the Conflict theme. Such works as My Life as a Traitor and The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif deal directly with cultural and political conflict, while The Deepest Part of the Lake highlights the conflicts within relationships in a Victorian country town in the 1950s. Robert has written extensively on the VCE Conflict theme for educational publications.

"Robert is an inspiring communicator and because he is an experienced teacher, as well as an accomplished author, he has great insight when he is conducting workshops as he is able to tap into students’ strengths and interests, to encourage them and to draw the best from them. His expertise is wide ranging: from engaging students in creative writing classes, to encouraging Year 12 English students to develop and refine their ideas for the Context, ‘Encountering Conflict’. Robert is a wonderful presenter. I recommend him wholeheartedly!"

- Valerie Mayer, Lilydale High, 2008

"The Rugmaker of Mazr-e-Sharif deserves to be read by everyone who was ashamed of the way Australia treated refugees through the Howard years."

- Sydney Morning Herald

"The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif impresses with its warmth, humility and grace."

- The Age

"My Life as a Traitor is both shocking and inspiring: a graphic portrayal of the horrors that are released when the idealism of youth challenges the dogmatism of zealots…unforgettable in its portrayal of brutality, but it sings with a young woman’s love of life and liberty."

- Daily Mail, UK

"Hillman’s observations of early 1950s family life…are particularly poignant. He writes with an understatement that is deceptive in its simplicity. File this alongside George Johnson’s My Brother Jack."

- Peter Muntz