Thomas Michael Keneally is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his historical fiction novel Schindler's Ark, which tells the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust. The novel won the Booker Prize in 1982, establishing Keneally as a significant voice in contemporary literature. Schindler's Ark achieved further prominence when it was adapted into Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List, which became a landmark Holocaust film. The movie won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, bringing Keneally's work to a global audience and cementing the story's place in popular culture and historical consciousness.