Claire G Coleman – August 22 2021

Photo: Jen Dainer, Industrial Arc

Clair is a Wirlomin-Noongar woman whose family has belonged to the south coast of Western Australia since long before history started being recorded. She writes fiction, essays and poetry while (mostly) travelling around the continent now called Australia. Born in Perth, Claire has lived most of her life away from her ancestral country in Victoria, mostly in and around Melbourne. During an extended circuit of the continent she wrote a novel, influenced by certain experiences gained on the road, winning a Black&Write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship for the first draft and then the Norma K Hemming Award for her debut novel, Terra Nullius. Claire’s essays include ‘After the Grog War’, ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ and ‘When We Encountered the Nomads’. Her public speaking appearances include giving the Loris Williams Memorial Lecture at the 2018 Conference of the Australian Society of Archivists.

Terra Nullius
Hachette Australia, 2017; ISBN 9780733641923
The Natives of the Colony are restless. The Settlers are eager to have a nation of peace, and to bring the savages into line. Families are torn apart, reeducation is enforced. This rich land will provide for all. This is not Australia as we know it. This is not the Australia of our history. This terra nullius is something new, but all too familiar. An incredible debut from a striking new Australian Aboriginal voice.
‘A delightfully duplicitous noodle-bender that flips the script on the Indigenous Australian survival narrative.’ – Kirkus Reviews

The Old Lie
Hachette Australia, 2019; ISBN 9780733640841
Shane Daniels and Romany Zetz have been drawn into a war that is not their own. Lives will be destroyed. Families will be torn apart. Trust will be broken. When the war is over, some will return to a changed world. Will they discover that glory is a lie? Claire G. Coleman’s new novel takes us to a familiar world to ask what we have learned from the past. The Old Lie might not be quite what you expect.
‘Set in an intergalactic war, this powerful story is told from multiple viewpoints and delivers an emotionally wrenching impact.’ – Sally Morgan