Anita Heiss

Dr Anita Heiss (born 1968) is an Australian author, presenter and commentator. She is a prolific writer working across a range of areas: non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women's fiction, poetry, social commentary, travel, extending her reader's knowledge and understanding of contemporary Aboriginal life in Australia. She is a regular guest at writers' festivals and travels internationally performing her work and lecturing on Indigenous literature.^[1]

Anita is an advocate for Indigenous literature and literacy through her writing for adults and children and her membership of Boards and committees. She is a role model for the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy and an Advocate for the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence and an Indigenous Literacy Day Ambassador.^[2]

Anita Heiss is an Adjunct Professor with Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology, Sydney (unpaid).^[3]

Biographical details

• Anita is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW. She was born in Sydney in 1968. Her mother Elsie Heiss née Williams was born at Erambie Mission, Cowra in Wiradjuri country. Her father Josef Heiss was born in St Michael in the Lungau, Salzburg, Austria.^[4]
• She was educated at St Clare's College, Waverley then the University of New South Wales where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in History (Honours),1991; she gained her PhD in Communication and Media at the University of Western Sydney, 2000.^[5]
• Since 2000 she has undertaken writers-in- residence positions at Macquarie University, Sydney and throughout NSW. She was Deputy-Director at Warawara Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University; Communications Advisor, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board, Australia Council for the Arts and consultant researcher / writer for the Aboriginal History website at the City of Sydney. She runs her own communications business, Curringa Communications.^[6]
• She has lived in Sydney, NSW for most of her life. She currently resides in Brisbane, QLD.

Main Works

Non-fiction

• Am I Black Enough For You (Random House, 2012) ISBN 9781742751924
• Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature edited Anita Heiss and Peter Minter (Allen & Unwin Sydney 2008) ISBN 978 1 74175 438 4
• Dhuuluu-yala, To Talk Straight: Publishing indigenous literature (Aboriginal Studies Press, 2003) ISBN 0-85575-444-3

Novels

• Tiddas (Simon & Schuster, Australia 2014) ISBN 978 1 92205 2285
• Paris Dreaming (Bantam , Australia 2011) ISBN 9781741668933
• Manhattan Dreaming (Bantam, Australia 2010) ISBN 978 1 86471 1288
• Avoiding Mr Right (Bantam, Australia 2008) ISBN 9781863256049
• Not Meeting Mr. Right (Bantam, Australia 2007) ISBN 978-1-86325-511-0

Children's literature

• Who am I? The diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937 (Scholastic, Australia 2001) ISBN 1-86504-361-3
• Yirra and her deadly dog, Demon (ABC Books, 2007) ISBN 978-0-7333-2039-2
• Demon Guards the School Yard (OUP / Laguna Bay, Australia 2011) ISBN 9780195572568

Poetry

• Token Koori (Curringa Communications, 1998) ISBN 0-646-35290-3
• I'm Not Racist, But ... (Salt, 2007) ISBN 978-1-84471-316-5

Humour

• Sacred cows (Magabala, 1996) ISBN 1-875641-25-4

Other edited books

• Life in Gadigal Country (Gadigal Information Service, 2002) ISBN 0 9580923 0 3
• Stories without End (Halstead Press, Australia, 2002) ISBN 1875684956

Awards prizes

• 2012 – Finalist: Human Rights Awards Media (non-fiction) for Am I Black Enough for You?
• 2012 – Winner: VIC Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing, 2012 for Am I Black Enough for You? ^[7]
• 2011 – Winner: Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature for Paris Dreaming ^[8]
• 2010 – Winner: Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature for Manhattan Dreaming
• 2008 – Winner: Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature, with Peter Minter for the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature.
• 2007 – Winner: Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature for Not Meeting Mr Right.
• 2004 – Nominee: Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature
• 2004 – Microsoft / Bulletin Magazine, Smart 100 (Arts and Entertainment).
• 2003 – Winner: Inaugural Australian Society of Authors Medal (Under 35) for contribution to Australian community and life.^[9]
• 2002 – Winner: NSW Premier's History Award (Audio Visual) for Barani: the Aboriginal History of the City of Sydney ^[10]
• 2002 – Shortlist: NSW Premier's History Award (Young People's History) for Who Am I? The diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937.

Scholarships / fellowships / grants

• Writer’s Grants from the Australia Council for the Arts 1994/1996/2011
• NSW Indigenous Arts Fellowship, 2004
• ANZAC Fellowship (NZ Department of External Affairs) to New Zealand to meet Maori authors and publishers. June 1997

References