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
Schindler's List the "Schindlerjuden", made it his life's mission to tell the story of his savior. Pfefferberg attempted to produce a biopic of Oskar Schindler with MGM in 1963, with Howard Koch writing, but the deal fell through. In 1982, Thomas Keneally published his historical novel "Schindler's Ark", which he wrote after a chance meeting with Pfefferberg in Los Angeles in 1980. MCA president Sid Sheinberg sent director Steven Spielberg a "New York Times" review of the book. Spielberg, astounded by Schindler's story, jokingly asked if it was true. "I was drawn to it because of the paradoxical nature of the character,"