Dr.

Anita Heiss

AM
Heiss in 2017
Born
Anita Marianne Heiss

1968 (age 55–56)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of New South Wales, Western Sydney University
Occupation(s)Author, presenter, commentator
Years active2000–present

Anita Marianne Heiss AM (born 1968) is an Aboriginal Australian author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator. She is an advocate for Indigenous Australian literature and literacy, through her writing for adults and children and her membership of boards and committees.

Early life and education

Heiss was born in Sydney in 1968, and is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales. Her mother, Elsie Williams, was born at Erambie Mission, Cowra in Wiradjuri country, while her father, Josef Heiss, was born in St Michael in the Lungau, Salzburg, Austria.[1][2]

Heiss was educated at St Clare's College, Waverley, then at the University of New South Wales, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989. After a cadetship at the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (later AusAID) in Canberra, she returned to UNSW to complete an honours degree in History in 1991.[2] She gained her PhD in Communication and Media at the University of Western Sydney in 2000, becoming the first Aboriginal student at the university to achieve this, which she considers her proudest achievement.[3] While working on her doctorate, Heiss ran writing workshops in regional New South Wales, and also travelled to Canada and New Zealand to do research there, giving several guest lectures while abroad.[2]

Academic and writing career

Heiss is known as an author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator.[4] Her work spans non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women's fiction, poetry, social commentary and travel articles.[5]

After attaining her doctorate, Heiss taught an Introduction to Indigenous Australia course at the University of Western Sydney, but became disillusioned with academia and resigned her position after a year or two, although retaining her unpaid role as an adjunct associate professor at the Badanami Centre for Indigenous Education at the university,[2] a position she continued until at least 2011.[4]

Heiss was a consultant researcher and writer for the Barani Aboriginal history website, first published by the City of Sydney in 2001.[6]

In 2004 she was writer in residence at Macquarie University,[7] Sydney, a part-time position, at the same time working from home on her writing.[2]

She was Deputy-Director at Warawara Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University from 2005 to 2006.[7]

She was Adjunct Professor at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning (now Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research[8]) at the University of Technology, Sydney,[9] from 2012 to at least 2014.[10]

Present

As of 2021, Heiss is Professor of Communications at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland.[11]

Other roles and activities

In 1993, Heiss, along with writers Jared Thomas and Kerry Reed-Gilbert (the latter also a good friend[2]), participated in a writers' workshop at which they discussed the germ of an idea which would become the First Nations Australia Writers Network.[12]

From 1998 until 2004, and again from 2007, she was on the management committee of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA).[7]

From 2001 until 2003 she was Communications Adviser for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.[7]

Heiss was chair of Gadigal/Koori Radio until September 2008.[2]

She was a witness in Eatock v Bolt, a 2011 decision of the Federal Court of Australia which held that two articles written by columnist and commentator Andrew Bolt and published in The Herald Sun newspaper had contravened section 18C, of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Bolt had accused Heiss and other Aboriginal people of "choosing" their identity for personal benefit.[2][13]

In 2011 Heiss was a board member for the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy, and an ambassador for Indigenous Literacy Day and for the Books in Homes program.[4] She has been an advocate for the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence,[14][1] a social enterprise in Sydney.[15] In 2015 Heiss became an ambassador for the Worawa Aboriginal College.[16][17]

Heiss was appointed to the State Library of Queensland board in 2017.[18] As of 2021 she is not on the board, but a member of the Indigenous Advisory Group, an independent advisory group to the Library Board.[19]

Heiss is Ambassador of the GO Foundation (founded by Adam Goodes, Michael O'Loughlin and James Gallichan);[20] and the Sydney Swans Australian rules football club.[1]

She also runs her own communications business, Curringa Communications.[21]

Awards, fellowships and grants

Selected 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

  • Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray: River of Dreams, (2021), Simon & Schuster Australia, ISBN 9781760850449
  • Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms, (2016), Simon & Schuster Australia, ISBN 9781925184846
  • 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
  • My Australian Story: Our Race for Reconciliation (Scholastic, Australia 2017) ISBN 9781760276119
  • Koori Princess (Magabala Books 2022) ISBN 9781922613158

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

As editor

References

  1. 1 2 3 Heiss, Anita. "Welcome to Anita Heiss online!". Anita Heiss. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Biography - Anita Heiss". Indigenous Australia. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  3. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Anita Heiss. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Anita Heiss". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 16 June 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  5. ↑ "Anita Heiss". Reading Australia. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  6. 1 2 "About". Barani. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Introducing Anita Heiss". Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature Project. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  8. ↑ "Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research". University of Technology Sydney. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "New books by UTS Authors | UTS Library - University of Technology Sydney". UTS Library. 5 June 2019. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  10. ↑ "UTS Calendar 2014" (PDF). University of Technology Sydney. December 2013. p. 24.
  11. ↑ "Dr Anita Heiss". University of Queensland. School of Communication and Arts. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  12. ↑ Reed-Gilbert, Kerry (13 July 2018). "A short history of the First Nations Australia Writers Network". Overland literary journal. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103, (2011) 197 FCR 261, Federal Court (Australia).
  14. ↑ "Beagle Bay students' week at The NCIE". National Centre of Indigenous Excellence. 29 November 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  15. ↑ "About". National Centre of Indigenous Excellence. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  16. ↑ "Dr Anita Heiss Our Newest Ambassador". Worawa Aboriginal College. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  17. ↑ Note: Not listed on the school's Ambassadors web page as of Feb 2021.
  18. ↑ "Media Statements". Queensland Government. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  19. ↑ "Indigenous Advisory Group". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  20. ↑ "People". GO Foundation. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  21. ↑ "ABN Lookup". Australian Business Register. Australian Government. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  22. ↑ "City of Sydney's Barani Website wins prestigious NSW Premier's History Awards in the audio/visual category". City of Sydney. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  23. ↑ "ASA Medal". Australian Society of Authors. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  24. ↑ "The ASA Medal". Australian Society of Authors. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  25. ↑ "Anita Heiss Wins Deadly Award". Copyright Agency. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  26. ↑ "2007 Winners". Deadly Vibe. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  27. ↑ "Deadlys 2008 Winners Announced!". 17 October 2008. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  28. ↑ "2010 Deadly Awards | The Deadlys®". Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  29. ↑ "17th Deadlys Winner Profiles" (PDF). Deadly Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  30. ↑ "Nominees for the 25th Human Rights Awards announced (2012 Media Release) | Australian Human Rights Commission". www.humanrights.gov.au. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  31. ↑ "Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing: Winner and Shortlist Announced". Wheeler Centre. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  32. ↑ Cain, Sian (16 May 2022). "'Unflinching': Villawood graphic novel wins book of the year at NSW premier's literary awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  33. ↑ "Dr Anita Marianne Heiss". It's an Honour. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
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