Anita Heiss's Blog, page 5

The long and short of lists for Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray in 2021

It’s always exciting to appear on a ‘list’ – short, long, professional, industry-based, most popular, most read etc etc. But, as I’ve said before, all lists are subjective. My list of ‘best books’ for example, could / would, more than likely be different to the list created by every single person reading this blog post right now. Why? Because we all read differently, we experience storytelling through different lenses, just as each author writes through their own individual lens to tell a story.

Of course, we can agree on books that have moved us, that we have enjoyed, and that we tell have been researched thoroughly. Authenticity to me also makes a book ‘the best’ it can be.

All that is relevant of course, but to me, when someone has my book on their list, I understand and appreciate it is often because it speaks to their own experience of the work, and it is that individual reading of the work that matters to me.

You see, I write for readers. I write because I want people thinking about the themes and characters I unpack in my novels. I write because I want readers to be challenged, moved, transported to different places and times. To experience different lives to their own.

And I want my readers to feel changed in some way, and to be motivated to make change if that’s what the story calls for.

So, with all that in mind, I want to acknowledge those who have read my latest novel Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams), published by Simon & Schuster this year. I want to thank those who have reviewed it on their blogs, on Goodreads, Amazon and Audible. I want to thank those people who have shared their own reading of the book on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and specifically today, I want to thank those who have added my novel to their lists this year…

Shortlisted for HNSA ARA Historical Novel Society Award – to be honest, this was one of the most exciting moments in my decades long writing and publishing career. Humbled to be in such esteem company as Jock Serong and Gail Jones. Just AMAZING!

Longlisted for Indies Book Award 2022

Australian Book Review (ABR) Best books of 2021

Highly Commended Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards

Audible Best Books of 2021

The AU Review Best Books of 2021

Canberra Times Best Books of 2021

And finally, thank you to Jason Steger for including Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray in his 12 books that made their mark in 2021.  

I hope everyone is taking some time out to read over the summer, with many of us forced to stay home due to COVID, it’s the perfect time to chill out with a good book.

What are you currently reading that you recommend to your own family and friends?

5 Q’s with debut author Geraldine Star

In 2021, life-coach, mentor and educator Geraldine Star released her debut novel Shee-oak as an e-book on Amazon.

Geraldine lives in seaside Sydney but grew up in country NSW, and her experiences and love of the land, specifically Wiradyuri country, is woven into her story about two very different women sharing an adventurous journey across the drought-stricken rural Hay Plain to Adelaide for a music festival.

I’m a huge fan of road trips, adventures, meeting and yarning with women from all walks of life, and of course, want to see my beautiful Wiradyuri country in Australian literature. So there’s a lot of ticks for me!

Added to that, Geraldine was my life coach for 15 years and I credit her for helping me reach my professional goals and dreams, particularly working towards the writing life I have today.

I am so thrilled to see Geraldine’s book available for all to read and I asked her five questions about the process to share with you here today.

I hope you are motivated to read the book, take a road trip, and maybe even write something yourself.

What inspired you to write your novel, Shee-Oak?

This book was ‘cooking’ in my head for many years. I took ideas from a range of often discordant events, did lots of research, and added it all to the story. People’s lives don’t always go how they want them to and by shining a light on my character’s lives, including their flaws, I could tell a tale which would resonate with many readers. A bright, impatient, selfish young woman, Mia, who is hiding an addiction, meets a more mature person, Felicity (Flea) with problems of her own and the sparks fly. Who will survive?

What was the significance of incorporating a road journey into your novel?

Road journeys in the outback are often long and arduous because of the enormous distances involved. As the roads stretch out, there is ample time to observe the changing scenery, the openness of the countryside and the lack of settlement. The past is left behind as a traveller explores and reflects on the broad horizons on their way to their future destination. No wonder road trips have become imprinted in the psyche of many Australians.

In Shee-Oak, Flea and Mia are ‘thrown’ together by fate, and a road journey is one way of the characters getting to know one another, showing their idiosyncrasies and flaws. They have different approaches to their unsettling drive across the Hay Plain to Adelaide. Mia sees featureless monotony, continually looking at her phone, berating callers, switching the music, chewing gum and whingeing about how long the trip is taking. When Flea’s not wondering what’s the problem with this young woman, the freedom and space of the journey energies her, she sees the variation in the landscape and uses the time to contemplate her own life; her failed marriage, the drought and future prospects on her farm.

Are the events in the novel drawn from your own life?

I love the Australian outback, so for me, the sense of place evoked by the landscape was easy to imagine and write about. I grew up on a farm and events like heat waves and dust storms remain vivid in my memory. Drought and the uncertainty of the weather are a constant worry for all farmers trying to make a living producing crops or grazing animals. I had to include a VW Kombi in the novel as my family had one when I was young and it was a real workhorse carting kids, bags, animals around the farm and to the town.

Why are the transformation and redemption of your characters so important?

Shee-Oak tells the story of the choices women throughout Australia make. For example, Flea gets involved in a romance with Randall after she splits with her husband. For her, there are big decisions about whether she should remain independent or settle for another flawed relationship. I wanted to put both women in difficult situations and let them find a way through to a better life.

Today, more and more women have a voice and are actively involved in agriculture. I wanted to show what it meant if people didn’t recognise women on the land. Even though Flea owned and ran her own farm, in the eyes of some men, she was invisible and they would ignore her and only want to negotiate with her husband about finance and farming issues. He knew nothing about farming.

Shee-Oak is an interesting name for your book. Was there any special reason for this name?

The Sheoak is a special drought resistant tree able to survive and adapt to changing conditions. I wanted the main characters in Shee-Oak to do the same.

In Wiradjuri country in south-western NSW where I grew up, the First Nations people called the Sheoak tree Birradhang.*

These trees have a rounded crown and drooping branches and timeless whispering sounds heightened in a breeze or wind. To me, their sound is reassuring yet eerie and in the inland, the trees have a sound that reminds me of the coast and the sea. I understand some First Nations groups believe this sound is the ancestors speaking to them.

I stumbled on the name Shee-Oak just before publication and it was one of those profound moments when you realise you have found something you have tried to capture in a word or phrase for ages.

There was a little adaption to be done, an additional ‘e’ at the end of ‘She’. The Shee, with the two ‘ee’s’ represents the two main characters, the two women, Flea and Mia. Then I included a hyphen which is sometimes used in the spelling of She-oak. The oak, to me, represents their shared strength as the women adapt and change, not without angst, throughout their journey.

Shee-Oak is available as an Ebook on Amazon.

You can find Geraldine on Instagram and Twitter.

*Wiradjuri Plant Use – Archive Local Land Services

One of the hardest things I’ve had to do as an author

One of the hardest things I’ve had to do as an author is to cull my bookcases in two states, letting of 100s of books across genres. Books that have enriched my life, challenged my thinking, raised my awareness, helped me be a better writer.

I consoled myself by doing the following:

I donated most of my non-fiction First Nations titles (collected while researching and writing my PhD, published as Dhuuluu Yala: to talk straight) to the ATSISU and the @BlackfullaBookclub.I donated books to the University of Queensland Great Book Swaps in 2021 supporting the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.I gave books to friends and colleagues who will experience the same joy I did when I read them.I gave my gorgeous kids picture books to my siblings and friends with toddlers.

And this is the big one…

5. Letting go of many of the books I’ve collected over decades of appearing at festivals here and abroad, writing and academic conferences, round tables and workshops. Books by authors I admire and respect, books by those who have motivated and supported me throughout my career. I couldn’t keep their books, but I’ve read them and sharing them with others now brings me some joy, because I’d also rather others experience their words than just hold them selfishly on my shelves.

I’ve kept all the autographed title pages though (see above), because each one holds a special memory, and I want to cherish them, because those moments in my writing career have led me to where I am today.

Thanks to a fab idea by author Phillipa Moore, I’m pasting all those pages into a new ‘annual collaging journal’. 2021 has some fabulous moments to share and I am now considering this recent cull, one of those moments. Giving is a good thing.

How do you decide what to cull and where your books will go?

TIDDAS cover reveal

I can’t tell you how much I love this new cover of TIDDAS to be released in the lead up to the theatre production of the TIDDAS in 2022.

On the cover on either side of yours truly are a few of my beautiful Brisbane-based tiddas. Also pictured below left to right: Lauren Appo, Kiana Charlton, Louisa Warren and Kirily Phillips – just the best crew you could ask for. I love being around these women, they lift my spirits, feed my soul, we talk about politics, relationships, world issues, and we laugh, a lot! I’m grateful for their sistahood.

TIDDAS the play, book now!

I am SO excited to announce that my first play, TIDDAS, will be part of the 2022 Brisbane Festival thanks to La Boite Theatre and QPAC.

An adaption of my novel Tiddas first released through Simon & Schuster in 2014, it’s been a wonderful journey of learning to write in a new genre.

Heartfelt thanks to Nadine McDonald-Dowd and Sanja Simic for getting me this far, and to Jane Harrison for her mentoring in recent months PLUS all the deadly actors who have been part of workshopping the play to date. Still some work to do but right now, just super thrilled to be sharing this story with the peoples of Brisbane.

ABOUT TIDDAS

THE SECRET LIVES OF SISTERS: LIFE, LOVE AND THE JAGGED BITS IN BETWEEN

Brisbane, 2022. Five women, best friends for decades, meet once a month to talk about books, life, love and the jagged bits in between.

Dissecting each other’s lives seems the most natural thing in the world and honesty, no matter how brutal, is something they treasure.

Best friends tell each other everything, don’t they? But each woman carries a complex secret and one weekend, without warning, everything comes unstuck.

Tiddas is a page-to-stage adaptation of Anita Heiss’s best-selling novel in a joint La Boite Theatre, QPAC and Brisbane Festival production.

Heiss has developed Tiddas for the stage, introducing Brisbane audiences to the story’s inimitable stars: Izzy, Veronica, Xanthe, Nadine and Ellen.

Tiddas plays La Boite from 5 – 24 September.

Website link – https://laboite.com.au/shows/tiddas-1

Ticketing link – https://tickets.laboite.com.au/overview/tiddas

2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize Shortlist Announced

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been shortlisted by the @hnsaustralasia for 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize in the Adult category with Jock Serong and Gail Jones (deadly peeps)!

The Shortlists demonstrate the power of the historical fiction genre to explore what lies hidden and unspoken in society today, illuminated by the sometimes shadowy, yet revealing, paths to our past.

The Prize is a true celebration of historical fiction, and a real opportunity to foster the genre on a grander scale.

https://hnsa.org.au/2021-ara-historical-novel-prize-shortlists-announced/

Media release: Two book deal with Simon & Schuster Australia

MEDIA RELEASE:

Simon & Schuster Australia has acquired the rights to two new books from Anita Heiss, First Nations Australian writer, cultural activist and social commentator. Anita is already the bestselling author of several novels, kids’ books, and works of non-fiction. Her latest historical novel Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray is already her bestselling work of fiction, which in addition to being highly acclaimed has also been extremely well received by booksellers and readers across the country. Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray has also made Australian publishing history by being the first commercial work of fiction published with the front cover presenting a title in an Indigenous language.

The incredible reception of this novel and encouragement from locals back on Wiradyuri country has inspired Anita to write the story of the Great Flood of Gundagai in the form of a picture book for young readers. Anita said: ‘It was the reaction to Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray that really impressed upon me the need to get the story of the Great Flood out to as wide an audience as possible, and I’m glad Simon & Schuster also feel the importance of sharing the heroic story of Yarri and Jacky Jacky with Australian children and all lovers of picture books with cultural value.’ The picture book will be published in 2023.

Fresh from the success of her adult novel and keeping in mind the interest that readers expressed in hearing our stories through the eyes of First Nations peoples of Australia, Anita will also write a new historical novel about the 1824 Battle of Bathurst, to be titled Dirrayawadha. She said: ‘I have long known the story of Windradyne and the Battle of Bathurst, but in a country that still denies the frontier wars, it’s clear that many still need to learn, and historical fiction is one way to engage the nation in our shared history.

‘Dirrayawadhais a Wiradyuri command meaning ‘to rise up’, and it speaks to the strength and depth of resistance, resilience and the sovereignty of Wiradyuri peoples across central NSW. I am grateful that I can be part of the process of truth-telling in Australia, by writing history through a Wiradyuri lens and publishing through Simon & Schuster who continue to break new ground in Australian publishing.’

Simon & Schuster’s Commercial Fiction Publisher Cassandra Di Bello said: ‘Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray was a very special publication for all of us at S&S and the positive response has been overwhelming. The opportunity to adapt it for younger readers and broaden its reach is one we could not pass up. Anita keeps going from strength to strength and we’re thrilled to have another adult novel in the pipeline and have ambitious plans to grow her success even further.’

The publication of Dirrayawadha is scheduled for 2024.

Simon & Schuster acquired world rights to both titles from Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown Literary Agency.

Five questions with author Pamela Hart

As Pamela Hart, she has written five historical novels, The Soldiers Wife, The War Bride, A Letter from Italy, The Desert Nurse, the Charleston Scandal and, most recently, the murder mystery Digging Up Dirt.

As Pamela Freeman, she is best known as a children’s writer, and also writes adult fantasy novels, including The Castings Trilogy.

Regardless of her surname, Pamela’s output is not only prolific, but also award-winning and internationally published. 

She is also a much loved supporter of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. 

I know Pamela well, but even I was surprised by some of these very interesting answers.

You’ve written a lot of other genres of books – why mysteries now?

I’ve always loved mysteries – I was a big Trixie Belden fan and went on from there. And I’ve written mysteries for kids as Pamela Freeman. So it was something I always had in the back of my mind…and coming out of writing The Desert Nurse, which was about Gallipoli, I just wanted to write something fun with no research. Researching WWI had been quite confronting, and I needed a break.

So Digging Up Dirt was my holiday from historical writing, and I had so much fun writing it.

I recognised aspects of your own life in this book…was that deliberate?

I have to laugh about that. This was the first book I’d written without a contract for years, and I really didn’t want to do any research, so I just let myself be a bit lazy with it. I gave Poppy my old job at the ABC, and my the much-loved little house in Annandale  where I lived before I got married, and some of my friends wanted to be in it, so I said, ‘Sure!’. And, of course, my husband is an archaeologist, so the character of Tol Lang, Poppy’s love interest, may bear some slight resemblance…

So did you renovate and find bones under the floorboards? Is that where the idea for the book come from?

Yes, indeed I did – and yes, that’s where the idea came from. The bones we found were much less interesting…they were basically old chop bones. My father, like Poppy’s, was a meat inspector, so I know my bones! We also found bits and pieces of crockery and old china. The house was built in 1896 on Gadigal land, and before that it was farmland, so settler occupation of it goes back a fair way, just as with Poppy’s house, and there was evidence of that under the floor.

Some of the murder suspects come from a right-wing political party and Pentecostal church. Did you do that deliberately because of the recent coverage of the Prime Minister’s relationship with such churches?

No! In fact, I wrote the first draft of this well before that media coverage picked up. I’ve always had a problem with prosperity gospel, which I feel is diametrically opposed to what Christ actually said, so when I wanted people whom I could naturally dislike (always useful when you’re creating suspects), that’s where I went. I also wanted to critique that from a position of faith – so often, people talk about Pentecostal and Evangelical Christianity as being emblematic of Christianity, which they are so not. I wanted to contrast Poppy’s down-played but sincere belief with the highly monetized version the Radiant Joy church preaches. And it’s also a great source of some of the jokes.

Will there be more Poppy books?

There will! I’m very pleased to say that I’m working on the structural edit of Shooting For Fame, the second Poppy story. This time we’re in the worlds of social media storms and rock stars, with Poppy at the centre of it all. We follow some characters from Digging Up Dirt, like Aunty Mary and Boris the carpenter, and find out what happens to Poppy and Tol…

I’m just enjoying writing these so much, I suspect I’ll be doing it for quite some time!

To grab your copy of this fabulous novel click here to find your nearest bookseller.  

Rachael McPhail and Acknowledging Country via your mail and Australia Post

By now you will have heard of the movement to encourage Australians to address their mail by including the Aboriginal place name it is being sent to. The Acknowledge Country concept has gathered moment quickly and enthusiastically. And the heroine behind the logistics of making this happen is Gomeroi woman, Rachael McPhail, who works passionately on this ‘project’ and is bringing the masses with her. Most importantly, she has on board.

I had the pleasure of hearing Rachael speak in Wagga Wagga recently as part of the Interesting Festival. Her brief was to write and present 1000 words in seven minutes. She wrote and spoke about the Acknowledging Country campaign she started and has generously permitted her words from that event to be published here.

Read them, be inspired and support Rachael’s amazing work and dreams by following her on , , , and sign the .

HAPPY NAIDOC!

INTERESTING – 7MINUTES, 1000 WORDS

Yaama maliyaa. My name is Rachael McPhail, and I am a Gomeroi yinarr living on Wiradjuri Country. Hello friends. My name is Rachael McPhail, and I am a Gomeroi woman living on Wiradjuri Country.

I would like to acknowledge that we are standing on unceded Wiradjuri Country, and I pay my respects and say yamandhu marang to any Elders and community members here today.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share some information with you about a campaign that I started, regarding the use of traditional place names in addresses.

When the covid pandemic started, as many people did, I indulged in my fair share of online shopping. In August last year, when placing an online order, I added Wiradjuri Country to my shipping address information. I was kind of worried that my parcel wouldn’t get to me, but more curious than anything – so, when the item arrived, I was so excited that I took a photo and posted it to Facebook. One of my Facebook friends suggested that I start an Instagram account specifically for this, so I created an account called @place_names_in_addresses.

I then started to tag Australia Post in my posts, and also when I reshared pictures that campaign followers had sent me of their parcels with traditional place names on them. My personal activism quickly grew into a full-on campaign, and my aim was to have Australia Post come on board, and officially include traditional place names in addressing information in Australia.

The campaign garnered support from a large number of followers, as well as public interest from newspaper, radio, podcasts and television media. After a couple of months of tagging in multiple Instagram posts and stories each day, they agreed to a videoconference, and I met with their Indigenous team to discuss my campaign. They were really enthusiastic, and publicly endorsed their support during NAIDOC week last year. They also updated their addressing guidelines on their website, so that their customers could support this initiative and know that their mail would safely make its destination.

This was an important win, however it is only the first step.

I started to get multiple messages each day from people all over this country asking how to find the traditional place name of where they live, or where they wanted to post mail to.

Currently, the best source of information we have is the AIATSIS map. As a resource, it’s a pretty good starting point. But it was developed in the 90’s, and we have learned so much more about cultural responsiveness since then. 

The disclosure statement underneath the AIATSIS map on the website reads:

This map attempts to represent the language, social or nation groups of Aboriginal Australia. It shows only the general locations of larger groupings of people which may include clans, dialects or individual languages in a group. It used published resources from the eighteenth century-1994 and is not intended to be exact, nor the boundaries fixed. It is not suitable for native title or other land claims. David R Horton (creator), © AIATSIS, 1996

Since I started this campaign, some community groups around the Brisbane/Gold Coast region, as well as in Tasmania have contacted me to say that their Elders do not agree with the information that is on the AIATSIS map, or that their Country or Nation is not even represented on the map.

The issue is that this map was created using coloniser’s records, and not enough consultation with community, which means that our best source of this data is actually inaccurate. It needs to be updated, with comprehensive consultation with Elders and community leaders, to ensure that all Countries and Nations are correctly represented. Otherwise, we are just contributing to ongoing oppression.

This is why I am still pushing for the biggest part of my campaign, which is the creation of a database of traditional place names, using information that has been verified by Elders and community leaders. As well as ensuring that we have a true record of this information for data preservation and educational purposes, this will also allow everyone to be able to use traditional place names every day as a norm, and know that they are using the right name.

There is so much scope for what innovation could be possible in the future, in regards to things like MyGov, drivers licences and ID cards, large retailer’s online checkouts, Google maps, etc, using traditional place names – however, it all boils down to the fact that we need that information to be recorded in a database to start.

Therefore, we need a huge campaign of consultation with communities all around Australia, to ensure that the Elders’ voices are heard, and their accurate information is collated. 

If you are interested in supporting my campaign, please find one of my accounts, and share my posts. I have , and TikTok accounts all called @place_names_in_addresses, and I have also started a petition over at  

It would also be amazing if you could start using Wiradjuri Country in your own address and think of ways that you could be an activist.
You could ask your local council to make sure that they are acknowledging the traditional owners in town entry signage, in residential addresses on land rates notices, on signage at local facilities (such as Wagga Beach), in tourist guides, and so on. And every time you register for something, such as your driver’s licence, doctor’s surgery, association memberships, your covid vaccination, car registration, connection of your utilities, etc, try to see if there is a way that you can add Wiradjuri Country, or for any visitors that we have here today, the traditional place name of the land that you live on.

Every town and suburb in this continent now known as Australia sits on land that still has an original name, which was passed down from Elders since time began.

By acknowledging these original place names, it is a way that all Australians can celebrate the amazing history that this place shares, and the continuing connection that First Nations people have maintained with Country.

I hope that you have been inspired to think of other ways that you can be more inclusive of First Nations people, culture, language and history in your day-to-day lives.

Thank you

Find and support Rachael’s amazing work here: , , , .

Guest review of The Spill by Imbe Neeme

Author: Imbi Neeme
Publisher: Penguin Random House (June, 2020)
Genre: Contemporary fiction

Reviewed by Laura Pettenuzzo

“Nicole and Samantha Cooper both remember the summer day when their mother, Tina, lost control of their car – but not in quite the same way. It is only after Tina’s death, almost four decades later, that the sisters are forced to reckon with the repercussions of the crash. Nicole, after years of aimless drifting has finally found love, and yet can’t quite commit. And Samantha is hiding something that might just tear apart the life she’d worked so hard to build for herself.”

The Spill was a brilliant debut by Melbourne/Naarm-based writer, Imbi Neeme. Told in alternating perspectives, and switching between the present and the past, the novel presented two equally valid recollections of the same events. It established a pattern in Samantha and Nicole’s relationship that was at times frustrating to read because it was so relatable. Samantha and Nicole’s experiences were a testament to the adage: “we don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”  

As with everything else, Samantha and Nicole had different opinions and experiences of Tina’s alcoholism. Their mother loved them, for all her faults, but only Nicole was able to recognize that, as Samantha harboured deep resentment towards her. Although she kept the most distance from Tina as an adult, Samantha was the one whose life revolved around their mother. Readers who, like Samantha, grew up with a parent living with substance misuse or any other mental health challenges may recognize that urge to create a clear delineation between themselves and their parent. For Samantha, that looked like a clear set of rules that allowed her to justify her drinking and believe that she wasn’t like Tina. Samantha felt so much rage “…at her mother for…always putting drink ahead of her. Rage at her mother for giving her the same disease and rage at herself for succumbing to that disease.” On the other hand, Nicole “hated the way [Sam] exaggerated Tina’s drinking like it was the only thing she ever did…” The cracks in their relationship began with Tina, but were compounded over the years by miscommunications and misunderstandings, which Imbi highlighted through certain incidents and objects, such as Nicole’s Cookie Monster jar. To Nicole, the jar represented the child she would never have, and to Sam, who didn’t know its origin, the jar was  another unfathomable example of Nicole’s sentimentality.

My favourite line was the description of Samantha’s accident, the way it evoked the sensations of being so out of control: “Something came loose, maybe in the car, maybe in her head…the car went into a spin, sending everything into slow motion. Samantha felt like she had slipped between the minutes and the seconds into an infinite space where she would spin forever.”

Two side notes. One: Perth was central to Samantha and Nicole’s experiences, and Imbi described it vividly and often, likely stirring in readers (as it did for me) the urge to visit Western Australia as soon as possible. Two: Imbi acknowledged the traditional custodians of the land on which she lives and works – the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation – in the acknowledgements, and it’s a practice every author should emulate.

I loved that Imbi waited until the very last page to reveal what had really happened on the day of the crash in 1982. No spoilers here – you’ll have to read the book to find out!

This novel was a great exploration of the pitfalls of memory, the impact of alcoholism on an individual and their family and a powerful story of two sisters with vastly different recollections of the same childhood.  

You can buy a copy of The Spill from Readings independent bookstore here.

About the reviewer: Laura is a young woman living on Wurundjeri land. She writes short stories and novels and has been published in Oz Kids in Print and Melbourne University’s Antithesis journal.