Thomas Keneally books, including 30 novels. He is particularly famed for his "Schindler's Ark" (1982) (later republished as "Schindler's List"), the first novel by an Australian to win the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film "Schindler's List". He had already been shortlisted for the Booker three times prior to that: 1972 for "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith", 1975 for "Gossip from the Forest", and 1979 for "Confederates". Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style. Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in Fred
Poldek Pfefferberg death in 1974 seemed to end any possibility of a film. In 1980 when Thomas Keneally went into Pfefferberg's shop to ask about the price of briefcases, Pfefferberg learned that Keneally was a novelist and showed him his extensive files on Schindler. Keneally was interested, and Pfefferberg became an advisor for the book, accompanying Keneally to Poland where they visited Kraków and the sites associated with the Schindler story. Keneally dedicated "Schindler's Ark" to Pfefferberg: "who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written." Pfefferberg explained the reasons behind his efforts to have the Schindler story told as: