Anita Heiss – September 3 2017

Indigenous Literacy Day – September 6 2017

A national book industry charity, which aims to reduce the disadvantage experienced by children in remote Indigenous communities across Australia by lifting literacy levels and instilling a lifelong love of reading.

Anita is a member of the Wiradjuri nation on her mother’s side and her father’s family is from Austria. In addition to poetry, Anita has published children’s books – including the historical novel Who Am I?, the fictionalised diary of an Aboriginal girl separated from her family when she was five; chicklit; novels; her memoir – Am I Black Enough For You?; and social commentaries, including Sacred Cows (illustrated by Danny Eastwood) – a satirical take on white Australian icons from an Indigenous perspective. She co-authored The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature with Peter Minter, edited Life in Gadigal Country and co-edited Stories Without End with Penny van Toorn. Anita travels internationally performing her work and lecturing on Indigenous Studies. She has written and directed the short-film, Checkerboard Love. Anita has been Communications Adviser for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board, Chair and member of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Committee of Management, writer-in-residence and Deputy Director of Warawara Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University. Anita holds a PhD and is currently working as a full-time writer and Adjunct Associate Professor at Western Sydney University attached to the Badanami Centre for Indigenous Education as well as volunteering her time as an ambassador for both ‘Books in Homes’ and Indigenous Literacy Day.

I’m Not Racist But … : A Collection of Social Observations
Salt Publishing, 2007; ISBN 978-1844713165
A collection of social observations, thoughts and conversations from over 15 years travelling, from the home of the largest Indigenous population in Australia to the Mohawk Reserve of Kanhawake, Quebec, this work considers issues of Aboriginal identity, the process of reconciliation and issues around saying ‘sorry’, notions of ‘truth’ and integrity, biculturalism and invisible whiteness. Poems like “My Best Friend’s White” demonstrate the way in which racism is entrenched in every day Aussie phraseology, while the saturation of political correctness, the increased need for ‘token Kooris’ and the unreal expectations of Aboriginal people are highlighted in the short radio play, “Token Kooris: Blackfellas for Hire”.

Token Koori
Curringa Communications, 1998; ISBN 9780646352909
Following her satirical look at Ozzie Kulture in Sacred Cows, Anita Heiss ventured into the world of poetry with some hard-hitting realities about contemporary Aboriginality. Her journey as an urban blackfella is touch by politics, passion and personal growth.
‘A passionate and articulate voice, Anita Heiss is a writer who provokes and challenges – and who does not let her readers off the hook.’ – Lynne Spender, Australian Society of Authors
‘Anita Heiss is one of the brightest of the new generation of Aboriginal writers. Intelligent, funny, incisive, her observations on black and white relations in Australia reveal a powerful and original new voice on the literary scene.’ – Irina Dunn, NSW Writers’ Centre.