Billy Marshall Stoneking
Billy Marshall Stoneking (b. 31 August, 1947) is an Australian-American poet, playwright, filmmaker and teacher.
Childhood and Education
Stoneking spent his early years growing up on military bases, including Randolph Field (Texas) and Fort Slocum (New York). He attended high school in Folsom and Rancho Cordova, California, and graduated from California State University (Sacramento) in 1970. In 1972, he migrated to Australia and in 1983 graduated from the (Australian Film, Television and Radio School}, specialising in screenwriting.
Career
Teaching
After completing a year's post-graduate credential in teaching, Stoneking migrated to Australia and spent five years teaching high school English and humanities subjects before travelling to Central Australia in 1979 where he was employed to set up a "literature production" programme for tribal Aboriginal people to enable their children to read and write in their native language, Pintupi/Luritja.
Writing
By this time, Stoneking had already been publishing his poems in little magazines around Australia for a number of years. His poems have been featured in the Oxford Book of Australian Poetry (edited by Les Murray), and The Penguin Book of Contemporary Australian Verse (edited by John Tranter). He is also the author of seven books, including Singing the Snake (Angus & Robertson) and Taking America Out of the Boy (Hodder Spectrum).
Screenplays
After four years at the Papunya Aboriginal Settlement in the Northern Territory, Stoneking returned to Sydney, and, in 1982, was admitted to the full-time screenwriting program of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.
Stoneking's first films were made in the mid-1980s, and included "Desert Stories" and "Nosepeg's Movie". He also had success writing for television, including the AFI award-winning drama series, Stringer, which he created and wrote for ABC TV.
These early successes were followed by scripts for Paramount Television's "Mission: Impossible", and the full-length stage play, "Sixteen Words for Water", which went on to successful productions in London, New Zealand, and the U.S.
He currently teaches screenwriting at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney.
External links
- Billy Marshall Stoneking personal website, includes poetry
- Billy Marshall-Stoneking at IMDb