Novelist, born in London, where his parents were on vacation. In 1925 White was sent to Cheltenham College to be educated in upper-class English style, and it was there, in an atmosphere of extreme sexual repression, that he first became conscious of his homosexuality, but also felt that he had to keep it hidden.

In 1932 White signed up for modern languages at King's College, Cambridge. Subsequently he lived in London, mixing in artistic and homosexual circles. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1940, and met his life-long love, Manoly Lascaris (then in the Royal Greek Army) in Alexandria in 1941.

In 1948 White returned to Australia for good, and was joined by Lascaris one month later. They set up house in Sydney, and remained there together until White's death. He didn't "come out" until 1981, with his autobiography provocatively entitled Flaws in the Glass.

He won Nobel Prize for literature in 1973. His novels (with allegorical overtones) include The Aunt's Story (1946), Voss (based on the 19th century explorer Leichhardt), and The Twyborn Affair (1979).