Christopher Koch passed away this morning at age 81.

After a battle with cancer, the acclaimed author and former ABC Broadcaster died near his home in Tasmania. He is survived by his wife Robin and his family.

Chris was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australian literature in 1995 and was twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award for fiction. He is the author of eight novels, including The Year of Living Dangerously which was made into a film by Peter Weir, as well as two works of non-fiction; most recently Lost Voices, a hauntingly beautiful story about the many legacies of Tasmania’s convict past.

Readings Managing Director Mark Rubbo says:

“Christopher Koch was a writer I always admired and whose work I looked forward to reading. He was a writer who was proud of his Australianness and his straightforward use of language. I’d met him a number of times and always enjoyed our discussions - they sometimes could be quite fiery as he did not have much truck with the postmodernist styles of some of his contemporaries. My favourite of Koch’s work was *, a very atmospheric novel about an enigmatic spy.*”