Anita Heiss
Author of Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia
About the Author
Dr. Anita Heiss is an Australian author, poet, cultural activist, and social commentator. She was born in 1968 in Gadigal country and is a member of the Wiradjuri Nation of central New South Wales. She is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, Western Sydney University. She writes show more non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women's fiction, children's novels, and blogs. Her books include Tiddas (2014) and Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms (2016), the 2020 University of Canberra Book of the Year. Her most recent book is entitled Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (2021). She has won numerous awards including 2 NSW Premier History Awards, 2002 and 2003; 4 of the Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature for Not Meeting Mr. Right (2007), Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature (2008) with Peter Minter, Manhattan Dreaming (2010), and Paris Dreaming (2011). In 2012, she won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing for Am I Black Enough for You? Her career includes, Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, the GO Foundation and Worawa Aboriginal College. Anita is a board member of University of Queensland Press and Circa Contemporary Circus and is a Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Anita Heiss
My best friend's white 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1968
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Australia
- Birthplace
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Places of residence
- Matraville, New South Wales, Australia
- Education
- University of Western Sydney (PhD - Communication and Media)
- Occupations
- novelist
non-fiction author
commentator
children's book author
poet
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 27
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 723
- Popularity
- #35,108
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 35
- ISBNs
- 116
Trigger warnings: Racism
6.5/10, after reading a quite a realistic book to say the least I was hoping that I would enjoy this historical/realistic book and I keep coming back to this genre with mixed results and though I enjoyed this I just wanted more from it, like something was missing from it that made me drop this to 3 stars, where do I begin. It starts off with the main character Mel Gordon who is a First Australian living her normal life in the year 2000 when the Sydney Olympics were just around the corner. Also only a few pages later Cathy Freeman comes to her school and she wants to be an athlete in the future and that was a nice part of the book however there are a few things she has to do first. The story takes a turn when it mentions the Stolen Generations and how Australia still has to reconcile for what they did to First Australians and that was a nice message but I felt that was a bit disjointed and the book couldn't decide whether it was about racism or athletes but as far as I know it's both which I struggle to wrap my head around. In the end there was a character who said racist things to Mel and they were called out for it and that ends the book which is quite a mixed bag. On the plus side it's authentic so there's that.… (more)