Craig Cormick


Craig Cormick is an Australian science communicator and author. He was born in Wollongong in 1961, and is known for his creative writing and social research into public attitudes towards new technologies. He has lived mainly in Canberra, but has also lived in Iceland and Finland. He has published over 40 books of fiction and non-fiction, and numerous articles in refereed journals. He has been active in the Canberra writing community, teaching and editing, was Chair of the ACT Writers Centre from 2003 to 2008 and in 2006 was Writer in Residence at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia.
In 2025 his co-written book won the NSW Premiers History Awards, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, and was shortlisted in two categories for the Queensland Literary Awards.
Cormick's creative writing has appeared in most of Australia's literary journals including Southerly, Westerly, Island Magazine, Meanjin, ''The Phoenix Review, Overland, Scarp, 4W, Redoubt, Block, as well as in overseas publications including Silverfish New Writing and Foreign Literature No 6. He has previously been an editor of the radical arts magazine Blast'', and his writing awards include the ACT Book of the Year Award in 1999 a Queensland Premier's Literary Award in 2006, a Victorian Community History Award in 2015, the in 2015 and the in 2016.
As a science communicator he has worked for the CSIRO, Questacon and the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, and has represented the Australian Government at many international science forums including APEC and OECD conferences, presenting on issues relating to public concerns about new technologies. In 2013 he was awarded the by the . Since 2019 he has been serving on the Advisory Board on Education and Outreach to the Nobel Prize Winning .
Cormick was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours "service to science, and to the community".

Literary career

Craig Cormick went on to study journalism and creative writing at the University of Canberra – both areas which he continues to work in – with stints at the Canberra School of Art, the University of Iceland and Helsinki University. He returned to the University of Canberra to study languages, public relations and sociology, undertake a Masters in Communications and then completed a PhD in Creative Communications at Deakin University in 2007.
His first books were self-published or picked up by small presses until ' was published by Aboriginal Studies Press in 1998. The book subsequently won the ACT Book of the Year Award and received praising reviews. His work has a strong sense of satire, across themes that include exploration, isolation, duality and Ned Kelly. He has written and published, on average, one book a year since 1998, including collections of short fiction, novels and non-fiction.
He has published scholarly articles on public attitudes to new technologies in publications including: NanoEthics, the International Journal of Biotechnology ''Agricultural Science, Historia Ciencias Saude and Choices. He also authored the Australian Government reports, Cloning Goes to the Movies, and What you really need to know about what the public really thinks about GM foods.
In 2008 he fulfilled "a life's dream" and travelled to Antarctica as an Antarctic Arts Fellow, visiting the three Australian stations on the continent, Casey, Davis and Mawson, publishing his experiences as ', in 2011, which merges his two interests of science and creative writing. He has also published one of the few research papers ever on nudity in Antarctica .
In 2014 and 2015 he published the acclaimed '' series with Angry Robot books, in the US and UK, as was a guest author at the fan convention in Minneapolis, and at WorldCon in Helsinki in 2018. In 2015 he also took part in .
Post-Covid he has embarked on several research journeys into First Nations histories and in 2024 published, along with First Nations author Darren Rix,: .

Writing awards

  • 2025 - WINNER Lane Cover Short Story Competition for 'The Names of those Lost'
  • 2025 - WINNER NSW Premier's History Award .
  • 2025 - WINNER ACT Book of the Year Award .
  • 2025 - Prime Minister's Literary Awards shortlisting .*
  • 2024 - WINNER ACT Literary Awards .
  • 2024 - WINNER Canberra Critics Circle .
  • 2023 - Commendation in the Victorian Community History Awards - .
  • 2022 - WINNER of the Special Book Award from 2020 as a part of the ACT Notable Awards 2022 for .
  • 2022 – Shortlisted for an Aurealis Award for Science Fiction Novella,
  • 2020 – WINNER of the Roly Sussex Short Story Prize for the Lost Journal of Edmund Kennedy.
  • 2019 - WINNER of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards - non-fiction, for , 2018.
  • 2019 - Shortlisted for the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards - fiction for , 2018.
  • 2019 - Shortlisted for a Victorian Community History Award, for , 2018.
  • 2019 - Shortlisted for an for Best Horror Book for , 2018.
  • 2016 - WINNER of the 2016.
  • 2015 – WINNER of a Victorian Community History Award, for , 2015.
  • 2015 – WINNER of the for , 2015.
  • 2010 – Shortlisted for the for , 2010.
  • 2006 – WINNER of Queensland Premier's Literary Award for '.
  • 2004 – Short-listed for a Queensland Premier's Award for '.
  • 2000 – Second Prize in the Age Short Story Contest.
  • 2000 – Second Prize in the University of Canberra Short Story contest.
  • 2000 – Nominated for ACT Artist of the Year.
  • 1999 – WINNER ACT Book of the Year Award for , 1998.
  • 1999 – Highly commended in the Victorian Fellowship of Australian Writers Jim Hamilton Award.
  • 1998 – WINNER First Prize in the Max Harris Literary Awards.
  • 1998 – WINNER First Prize in the Arts West Writing Competition.
  • 1998 – Second Prize in the Not the Premier's Literary Award.
  • 1998 – Second Prize in the R Carson Gold Short Story Competition.
  • 1998 – Shortlisted for the ANU/Anutech short story award.
  • 1997 – WINNER Canberra Critics Circle award for literature.
  • 1995 – Shortlisted for the ANU/Anutech short story award.
  • 1996 – Highly commended in the National Book Council Award.
  • 1993 – Shortlisted for the for ''''

    Works

Books published

  • , Simon & Schuster,.
  • , Exisle Publishing,.
  • , IFWG Publishing International,.
  • , Queer Oz Folk,.
  • , Merino Press,.
  • , Merino Press,.
  • , Merino Press,.
  • ', Big Sky Publishing,.
  • ', Big Sky Publishing,.
  • ', Merino Press,.
  • , , 2020..
  • , , 2019..
  • , , 2018...
  • , , 2018...
  • ', , 2017...
  • , , 2016..
  • , , 2015..
  • , CSIRO Publishing, 2014. .
  • , , 2014..
  • Uncle Adolf, Ginninderra Press, 2014...
  • , New Frontier, 2014..
  • Time Vandals, , 2012..
  • Shipwrecks of the Southern Seas, , 2011..
  • In Bed with Douglas Mawson, , 2011..
  • Futures Trading, , 2009...
  • The Last Super: The creation and recreation of Alexander Pearce, the 'cannibal convict' of Van Diemen's Land, , 2009..
  • Of One Blood, , 2007. ..
  • The Prince of Frogs, , 2007. /
  • A Funny Thing Happened at 27,000 feet..., , 2005...
  • The Princess of Cups, , 2003...
  • DIG: the Unwritten History of Burke and Wills, , 2002..
  • The Queen of Aegea, , 2001..
  • When Angels Call, , 2000. , May 2001]..
  • The King of Patagonia, , 1999..
  • Unwritten Histories , 1998. ..
  • Pimplemania'', , 1997..

    Books edited

  • Snapshots, Oak Publications, Malaysia, 2006..
  • Co-editor of Meeting of Muses, , 2003..
  • Co-editor of The Circulatory System, , 2001..
  • Co-editor of Time Pieces, , 1999. ..
  • Protesting the Testing: Canberra Writers Speak Out Against Nuclear Testing in the Pacific, 1995, and PEN )..

    Academic publications

  • Cormick. C. June 2021, Social Sciences 10:119-124
  • Cormick. C., Nielssen. O., Ashworth. P., La Salle. J., & Saab. C., , Science Communication 37:274-282.
  • Cormick. C., and Romanach, L., , Trends in Biotechnology, , March 2014, Pages 114–116.
  • Cormick.C., and Hunter. S., , NanoEthics, April 2014, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp 57–71.
  • Ten Big Questions on Public Engagement on Science and Technology: Observation from a Rocky Boat in the Upstream and Downstream of Engagement, in DEMESCI – the International Journal of Deliberative Mechanisms in Science, ', Volume 1, number 1, August 2012.
  • The Complexity of Public Engagement, in Nature Nanotechnology, ', February 2012.
  • Why Do We Need to Know What the Public Thinks about Nanotechnology? ', August 2009.
  • Piecing Together the Elephant: Public Engagement on Nanotechnology Challenges’, ', Volume 15 Number 3, 2009.
  • What do the Public Really Think and Who do they Really Trust, in Human Biotechnology and Public Trust, , 2008.
  • Public Attitudes Towards GM Crops and Foods, ', Volume 21, No 2 – September 2007.
  • A clonagem vai ao cinema, Historia Ciencias Saude, ', Brazil, Volume 13, October 2006.
  • Lies Deep Fries and Statistics,', USA. 2005.
  • Perceptions of Risk Relating to Biotechnology in Australia, '. Vol 5, No 2, 2003.
  • Recent Changes in Public Attitudes Towards Biotechnology in Australia, ', Vol.15, September 2002.
  • Australian Attitudes to GM Foods and Crops, ', Royal Society of Chemistry, December 2002.