Perry has written biographies on US KGB agent, Michael Whitney Straight (Last Of The Cold War Spies), British espionage agent Victor Rothschild (The Fifth Man), and for relief, actor Mel Gibson. Perry’s political books include Hidden Powe–The Programming Of The President, about the election and Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Perry’s works on sport include the number one bestseller and definitive work on Sir Donald Bradman, The Don.
His other biographies have covered a variety of characters, including General Sir John Monash (Monash), Wilfred Burchett (The Exile), Keith Miller (Miller’s Luck), Peter Chitty (The Changi Brownlow) and Shane Warne (Bold Warnie).
Perry began his writing career as a journalist on The Age Melbourne from 1969 to 1973. After five years in England making documentary films, he had his first book, a novel – Program For A Puppet – published in 1979. It was an international best-seller that was translated into eight languages.
Educated at Scotch College Melbourne, Perry has an Economics degree from Monash University (1972). His awards include: the Frederick Blackham Exhibition Prize in Journalism at Melbourne University (1969); the 2004 Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literary Award for non-fiction with Monash: The Outsider Who Won A War; and Cricket Biography of the Year [2006] from the UK Cricket Society for Miller’s Luck, a biography of all-rounder, Keith Miller, which The UK Daily Mail judged as ‘Sports book of the Year’ in 2006).
In October 2011 Perry was made a Fellow of Monash University. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia ‘for service to literature as an author’ in June 2011. He was a member of the National Archives of Australia’s Advisory Council 2006-2012. He is a member of the General Sir John Monash Foundation, the KK Club, a director of The Spirit of Australia Foundation, and a coterie member of the Murrumbeena Football Club. Monash University bestowed a Professorship on Roland Perry in October 2012 and he is the University’s first Writer-in-Residence, lecturing PhDs and PhD aspirants on all aspects of writing, and Australian history.
