Jane Harper Bio

Born in Manchester in the UK, Jane Harper moved to Australia with her family when she was eight and spent six years in Boronia in Victoria, gaining her Australian citizenship at that time.

She moved back to the UK with her family as a teenager, living in Hampshire and then studying English and History at the University of Kent in Canterbury. After graduating, she completed a journalism entry qualification and landed her first trainee reporter role at the Darlington & Stockton Times in Country Durham. 

Journalism played a prominent role in her life; Jane worked for several years as a senior news print journalist for the Hull Daily Mail before moving back to Australia in 2008 and taking up roles at the Geelong Advertiser, and then as a business reporter in Melbourne in 2011. 

Today, Jane lives in Melbourne’s bayside with her husband and their two children. 

Becoming an author

In 2014, Jane Harper submitted a short story to the Big Issue where it was chosen as one of the 12 stories published in the publication’s annual Fiction Edition. It was this achievement that inspired her to pursue creative writing, and saw her breakthrough with The Dry as an unpublished manuscript at the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. 

The Dry was published in 2016 and was Harper’s starting point to becoming a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. She has become well known for her Outback Noir novels which have all been set in rural Australia. 

Jane Harper books in order

Jane Harper has published six books so far, three in the Aaron Falk series and three standalone novels. 

The Aaron Falk series

• The Dry (2016)

• Force of Nature (2017)

• Exiles (2022)

Standalone Novels

• The Lost Man (2018)

• The Survivors (2020)

• Last One Out (2025 Australia, 2026 US/UK)

Jane Harper on film 

With six books published in 11 years, it is a testament to Jane Harper’s writing skills that three out of her six novels have been adapted for screen. 

The Dry was a major motion picture adaption, starring Australian actors Eric Bana, Genevieve O’Reilly, Keir O’Donnell and John Polson, and took more than $20.5 million at the Australian box office on its release in 2021. It  sits at 15th on Screen Australia’s highest grossing Australian films of all time. 

Eric Bana also starred in Force of Nature: The Dry 2. Filmed in regional Victoria in 2022 and released in 2024, Force of Nature, co-starred Australian actors Anna Torv, Deborra-lee Furness, Robin McLeavy, Sisi Stringer, Lucy Ansell and Jacqueline McKenzie. 

The Survivors was adapted for a six-part Netflix series, released in 2025. Starring Australian actors Charlie Vickers, Yerin Ha, Damien Garvey and New Zealand actress Robyn Malcolm, The Survivors debuted at no 4 on the Netflix Global Top 10 English language TV list, landed at no. 10 in 76 countries, and received 5.3 million viewers in it’s first week alone. 

Awards and accolades 

Jane Harper has been awarded and shortlisted for numerous top awards for her novels over the last decade. 

The Dry

2015 – Victorian Premier’s Literary Award  (unpublished manuscript)

2017 – Australian Book Industry Award Book of the Year  

2017 – Australian Book Industry Award winner Davitt Award

2017 – CWA Gold Dagger Award Crime Novel of the Year  

2017 – Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year 

2017 – Australian Indie Book Awards Book of the Year 

2017 – Australian Indie Book Awards Debut Fiction  

2017 – Prix Cognac Award (France) 

2017 – Amazon Best Mystery and Thriller Novel

2017 – Goodreads Choice Award Best Mystery Thriller

2017 – Goodreads Choice Award Best Debut

2018 – British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year  

2018 – Barry Awards Best First Mystery

2018 – Livre De Poche Readers Prize for Best Crime Thriller 

Force of Nature

2018 – National Book Awards International Author of the Year

2018 – Australian Indie Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year

2018 – Australian Book Industry Awards General Fiction Book of the Year  

2018 – Best Mystery and Thriller Novel 

The Lost Man

2019 – Australian Indie Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year  

2019 – LA Times Book Prize Mystery/Thriller of the Year

2020 – Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year  

2020 – Barry Awards Best Mystery/Crime Novel  

The Survivors

2021 – Australian Books Industry Awards General Fiction Book of the Year 

2021 – Colin Roderick Award shortlist 

Exiles

2023 – Ned Kelly Awards Best Crime Fiction shortlist – Exiles