Alex Buzo

His father Zihni Jusuf Buzo (1912-2006) was from Berat, Albania, an American Harvard University graduate and civil engineer of Albanian origin.

Elaine Johnson, an Australian teacher of Irish descent was his mother.

Alexander John Buzo (23 July 1944 – 16 August 2006) was an Australian playwright and author who wrote 88 works.

His literary works recorded Australian culture through wit, humour and extensive use of colloquial Australian English.

Alex Buzo was born on 23 July 1944 in Sydney.

Buzo's brother, Adrian Buzo (born 1948, Brisbane) is a Korean studies scholar and former Australian diplomat.

The first school Buzo attended was the Middle Harbour State Primary School.

Buzo's interests in his early years were shaped by his influential mother's sister Ailsa, a theatre and movie goer.

At age 10, Buzo and the whole family went to live in Armidale when his father got a position at the University of New England.

Buzo attended The Armidale School where his interest in drama developed.

His father later was employed in Switzerland and Buzo attended the International School of Geneva.

He formed a lifelong interest for both cricket and rugby in his youth where he participated as a player in team sports.

Buzo returned to Australia and held a job at the Sydney Stock Exchange for a year.

He attended and was a successful student at the Australian National University.

His talent was nurtured and developed at the Producers Authors Composers and Talent (PACT) Centre, founded in 1964.

Later he went to the University of New South Wales, which had Australia's first drama course and graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

At the time Buzo worked as a barman in the Sydney suburb of Neutral Bay at the Oakes hotel.

Buzo started acting with the inner Sydney New Theatre company after being inspired by director Aarne Neeme and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

Later in Sydney he became a playwright at 21 and Buzo emerged as a prominent figure among Australian dramatists, part of the New Wave group.

Buzo was also involved with the Melbourne based Australian Performing Group (APG).

In 1966 Buzo wrote The Revolt.

Norm and Ahmed was written in 1968 after his friend Pakistani student Mohammed Kazim ("Kaz") was harassed in a pub by an older white Australian.

The play explored issues of racism within Australia and was a one act drama centred on two characters, the Anglo-Australian engineer Norm and a Pakistani student Ahmed at a bus stop.

The controversial play brought Buzo into the national spotlight and it was performed widely in Australian cities and also in Britain and the US.

During 1969, Buzo wrote two plays The Front Room Boys and Rooted.

The name Rooted got Buzo into difficulties as in Australian colloquial terminology the term used as a pun can mean sexual relations.

Debates over censorship in theatre followed and the use of colourful Australian expressions like "fuckin' boong" in the play's last line resulted in obscenity charges against Buzo, then court cases with the matter ending up at the High Court in 1970.

The charges were eventually quashed by the Attorney-General.

He wrote The Roy Murphy Show, a satirical play about a rugby television panel show in 1971 and two others in 1972, Macquarie, exploring issues of Australian identity and the past and Tom.

At age 28, Buzo became a resident playwright with the Melbourne Theatre Company.

In 1974, Buzo's Coralie Lansdowne Says No achieved much success and was about a woman's struggle for independence and challenges she encounters in life.

Other plays explored similar themes regarding social alienation and the pursuit of individuals seeking to attain and find purpose in a world that prevents it from happening like Martello Towers in 1976 and Makassar Reef in 1978.

Buzo was at the height of his career as his plays were often sold out performances and well received by attending audiences.

In 1980 Buzo wrote the Big River, in 1983 The Marginal Farm, in 1987 Stingray, in 1988 Shellcove Road and in 1995 Pacific Union.

Buzo was one of the early playwrights of the New Wave group to gain international attention for Makassar Reef, Rooted and Tom, being well received in the US.

Buzo's plays have also been performed in south East Asia and the UK.

Over the span of his career, Buzo was also a writer-in-residence for various schools, universities and theatre companies.

Businessman David Hill, an Oakes Hotel coworker from Buzo's university days sued him for defamation in the 1980s over an unsavoury character claimed to be based on Hill in Makassar Reef.

Both Hill and Buzo reconciled in 1990.

In later years Buzo wrote fiction including prose and topics covered ranged from the misusage of everyday language to sport.