Sarah Krasnostein
The Trauma Cleaner
“A superbly written book about the re-doutbable Sandra Pankhurst and her work as a trauma cleaner…This is the startling life story of Pankhurst, a trans woman with a heart the size of Uluru, written in Krasnostein’s irresistibly warm, frank, intelligent voice as she describes sites of sadness and horror that take the reader straight to the dark heart of the human condition.”
Text Publishing, 2019
Before she was a trauma cleaner, Sandra Pankhurst was many things: husband and father, drag queen, gender reassignment patient, sex worker, small businesswoman, trophy wife…
But as a little boy, raised in violence and excluded from the family home, she just wanted to belong. Now she believes her clients deserve no less
A woman who sleeps among garbage she has not put out for forty years. A man who bled quietly to death in his loungeroom. A woman who lives with rats, random debris and terrified delusion. The still life of a home vacated by accidental overdose.
Sarah Krasnostein has watched the extraordinary Sandra Pankhurst bring order and care to these, the living and the dead—and the book she has written is equally extraordinary. Not just the compelling story of a fascinating life among lives of desperation, but an affirmation that, as isolated as we may feel, we are all in this together.
Winner, Victorian Prize for Literature, 2018
Winner, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction, 2018
Winner, ABIA General Non-Fiction Book of the Year, 2018
Winner, ABDA Designers' Choice: Cover of the Year: W. H. Chong, 2018
Winner, Dobbie Literary Award for a first time published author, 2018
Shortlisted, Indie Book Award for Non-fiction, 20Shortlisted, Melbourne Prize for Literature: Best Writing Award, 2018
Shortlisted, ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, 2018
Shortlisted, ABDA Best Designed Autobiography/Biography/Memoir Non-Fiction Cover, W. H. Chong, 2018
Shortlisted, Nib Waverley Library Award, 2018
Shortlisted, Sisters in Crime's 18th Davitt Awards: Nonfiction, 2018
Shortlisted, Sisters in Crime's 18th Davitt Awards: Debut, 2018
Commended, Institute of Professional Editors in Victoria, 2018
Longlisted, Walkley Book Award, The Walkley Foundation, 2018
Shortlisted, Wellcome Book Prize, United Kingdom, 2019
Joint winner, Douglas Stewart Prize Non-Fiction, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, 2019
Shortlisted, National Biography Award, 2019
Sarah Krasnostein is a writer. She is admitted to legal practice in Australia and America, and holds a doctorate in criminal law. She is the best-selling author of The Trauma Cleaner, which won the Victorian Prize for Literature, the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Non- Fiction, the Australian Book Industry Award for General Non-Fiction and the Dobbie Literary Award. It jointly won the Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, was longlisted for the Walkley Book Award and was shortlisted for the National Biography Award, the Melbourne Prize for Literature and the Wellcome Book Prize (UK). Her work has appeared in a variety of publications and academic journals in Australia, the UK and America.
