Robert grew up in a small town in rural Victoria – Eildon Weir, as it was known when he lived there. The town nestled under the weir, and he spent a fair bit of time as a child contemplating the thrilling prospect of the wall’s collapse. He imagined the opportunities the flood would provide for the rescue of old people and small children. The newspaper headlines would read: “Eildon Boy Saves Hundreds.”
Robert Hillman’s memoir, The Boy in the Green Suit (Scribe Publications), won the Australian National Biography Award for 2004. His collaboration with Najaf Mazari resulted in the bestselling and critically acclaimed, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif (Wild Dingo Press) Robert is also the author of Gurrumul: His Life and Music (HarperCollins Australia) and the novel Joyful (Text Publishing).
Robert has collaborated with Stan ‘Yarra’ Yarramunua a highly successful Melbourne artist, musician, businessman and charity worker, to write A Man Called Yarra, which will be published by Black Inc Books in May 2018.
Robert’s new novel, The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted will be released by Text Publishing in April 2018 and rights have already been sold to Spain and Israel.