Gregory David Roberts (placeholder)

Gregory David Roberts (born June 1952) is an Australian author, most noted for his novel Shantaram. He was a heroin addict and convicted bank robber who escaped from Pentridge Prison and fled to India where he lived for ten years.

In 1978 Roberts was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for a series of armed robberies of building-society branches, credit unions and shops, committed with a toy pistol while addicted to heroin. In July 1980 he escaped from Victoria’s maximum security prison in broad daylight to become one of Australia’s most wanted men. After briefly going to New Zealand, he lived in Bombay, where he became involved with the local mafia, until 1990 when he was captured and imprisoned in Frankfurt. He was returned to Australia and served a further six years in prison, including two years in solitary confinement. He was released in 1997 and, now drug free, began work on his novel.

Since completing Shantaram, Roberts has reportedly returned to Mumbai to live, and set up charitable foundations to assist the city’s poor health care coverage. Roberts is writing the screenplay for Shantaram the movie, in addition to other screenplays intended for the cinema.