CHLOE HOOPER (1991)
AUTHOR

On 7 February 2009, 173 people died as a result of fires that swept Victoria, a day etched in our memories and known as Black Saturday. Past student and author Chloe Hooper’s new book “The Arsonist” is an account of the investigation into the fires outside Churchill, a small town in the Latrobe Valley, which was quickly determined to have been deliberately lit. The story surrounds the investigation, prosecution, conviction and sentencing of the perpetrator and why someone would do such a thing. Chloe has recently won the Best non-fiction Crime Novel at the Davitt Awards for The Arsonist – A Mind on Fire (2012). Chloe’s first novel, A Child’s Book of True Crime (2002), was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Literature and was a New York Times Notable Book. In 2005, she turned to reportage and the next year won a Walkley Award for her writing on the 2004 Palm Island death in custody case. The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island (2008) is a non-fiction account of the same case. Chloe is also the author of non-fiction thriller, The Engagement (2012).