author, poet, satirist, social commentator

 
 

LATEST NEWS



Anita wins another Deadly Award.

Anthology editors Heiss and Minter win 2008 Deadly award for literature

Dr Anita Hess and Peter Minter, contributing editors at The Centre for the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature, have won the Deadlys 2008 award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature.

The two are the editors of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature which was published by Allen & Unwin in May 2008. The work is the most comprehensive anthology of Australian Aboriginal writing ever published.

Anita Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW, a writer, poet, activist, social commentator and academic. Peter Minter is a prize-winning poet, editor and reviewer.

The award was announced at the 14th annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander awards ceremony held at the Sydney Opera House on October 9.

Professor Jill Roe, AO, Director of the Centre for the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature, Division of Humanities congratulated the editors on their achievement.

“The university has been privileged to play a part in the preparation of this wonderful landmark volume,” she said.

The anthology is a groundbreaking collection of work from some of the great Australian Aboriginal writers over the last 200 years. It offer a rich panorama of Aboriginal culture, history and life ranging from Bennelong’s 1796 letter up to the present day.

Heiss and Minter selected works that represent the range and depth of Aboriginal writing in English. The anthology includes journalism, petitions and political letters from both the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as major works that reflect the blossoming of Aboriginal poetry, prose and drama from mid-20th century onwards. It chronicles the ongoing suffering of dispossession of Aboriginal people, but also their resilience across the country, and the hope and joy in their lives.

The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature is the first work to be produced under the major literary project, The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. These anthologies are produced under the auspices of the Centre for the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature at Macquarie University and the Sydney Centre of International PEN, a worldwide association of writers promoting literature and freedom of expression.



Who Am I? The diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937 – French edition out NOW!

Anita’s novel on the Stolen Generations Who Am I? the diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937 has been released in French (Qui suis-je ? Journal de Mary Talence; Sydney 1937) by Au Vent Des Iles in Tahiti.

You can order the book on-line here.



Anita's newest book, Avoiding Mr Right, (the much anticipated sequel to Not Meeting Mr Right) is now availabe in stores nationally.

To download a press release about Avoiding Mr Right, click here.



Anita is the newly elected Chair of the Australian Society of Authors, the peak organisation for protecting the rights of Australia's literary creators.



The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature will be in-stores in May 2008. Anita is the co-editor of this ground-breaking contribution to Aboriginal writing.

To download a press release about the anthology, click here.

To download an order form for the anthology from within Australia, click here.

To download an order form for the anthology from outside Australia, click here.





Anita has a blog. Click here to read her latest post.



OUT NOW

Interview for Foame now available online by clicking here.



Essay Indigenous Book Publishing in Making Books: contemporary Australian publishing, UQP, 2007



Essay Writing Aboriginality: authors on "Being Aboriginal" in A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900, edited by Nicholas Birns & Rebecca McNeer, Camden House, 2007



Essay Aboriginal Children's Literature: more than just pretty pictures in Just Words?: Australian Authors on Writing and Justice, UQP, 2007



Anita wins the 2006-07 Scanlen Prize for Poetry Anita's book I'm Not Racist, But.... gained the prize for the best published collection of poems in English by an indigenous Australian writer. The prize was announced by Elizabeth Hodgson on Sunday at the Brett Whiteley Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney during a Poets Union Poetry Reading.



Anita wins a Deadly Award

Photograph by Amanda James.

At a star studded evening at the Sydney Opera House, Anita accepted the award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature, beating a strong field of contenders.

Photograph by Amanda James.





Hear and see Anita speak about her writing for the NSW Department ofEducation and Training's Centre for Learning Innovation.



Hear Anita on SBS World talking about I'm not racist, but...



Read an interview with Anita on The Program.



Best-selling book: I'm not racist, but... ! Click here for more details.