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Dr Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of 23 books; non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women’s fiction and children’s novels. She is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central New South Wales, an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the GO Foundation, and Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland. Anita is also the Publisher at Large of Bundyi, an imprint of Simon & Schuster cultivating First Nations talent, and a board member of the National Justice Project and Circa Contemporary Circus. As an artist in residence at La Boite Theatre, she adapted her novel Tiddas for the stage. It premiered at the 2022 Brisbane Festival and was produced by Belvoir St for the Sydney Festival in 2024. Her novel, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray, about the Great Flood of Gundagai, won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Indigenous Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize and the 2022 ABIA Awards. Anita’s first children’s picture book is Bidhi Galing (Big Rain), also about the Great Flood of Gundagai. Anita enjoys running, eating chocolate and being a creative disruptor.
'Anita Heiss rescues the memory of a nation with the intensity of her voice. Dirrayawadha is a story of love, of survivors. You start reading and you lose your breath. There is no one like Anita to captivate you from the first line. In Dirrayawadha love prevails in the midst of the most terrible war. A novel about Australia for the world. The great dichotomy of this novel is the arriving one's yearning for autonomy and the native's yearning for sovereignty.' -- <B>Armando Lucas Correa, bestselling author of <I>The German Girl</I></B> ‘Dirrayawadha successfully imparts historical truths within an accessible mass-market format while retaining many words in the Wiradyuri language. This novel will appeal to fans of conventional historical fiction about politically marginalised people along the lines of works by Shankari Chandran and Kate Grenville. It starts gently, yet by the end, you will feel the full force of the truths of Australia’s colonial history.’ * <B>Books+Publishing</B> * ‘A story from the past given vivid life for new understanding.’ -- <B>Kate Grenville, author of <I>Restless Dolly Maunder</I></B> ‘Dirrayawadha shines a fresh light on one of the most extraordinary people in this continent's past, woven together with a deeply personal story of loss and love. Heiss's wonderful writing, as ever, takes us to the heart of the historical truths which still reverberate today, and movingly chronicles their human cost. Dirrayawadha should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand our colonial past, and especially for those of us who live on unceded land.’ -- <B>Meg Keneally, author of <I>Free</I></B> 'Anita Heiss’s Dirrayawadha is a tender yet clear-eyed portrayal of love, justice and longing; a riveting novel that highlights the personal and historical consequences of Australia’s violent past. Historical in tone, yet absolutely contemporary in scope, Dirrayawadha is a beautiful triumph. The heart wrenching story of Miinaa, Dan and Windradyne will stay with me forever.' -- <B>Mirandi Riwoe, author of <I>Stone Sky Gold Mountain</I></B> 'In illuminating the devastation of war and the vast upheaval and destruction of the Wiradyuri people, Dirrayawadha is a significant contribution to ongoing truth-telling in this country. If anyone ever doubted the existence of internal war in Australia, this is the book to read, and to consider all that’s been lost and what could yet be learned. Dirrayawadha is a beautifully written and masterful telling of a pivotal point in our history.' -- <B>Nicole Alexander, author of <I>The Last Station</I></B> 'Heiss is at the height of her powers in Dirrayawadha as she reckons with a time and a truth many have chosen to forget or deny; that of the brutal Frontier Wars that occurred on our soil. Told with heart and courage, Dirrayawadha is an epic tale of resistance, love, belonging and perseverance that returns presence and language to disregarded or silenced historical figures. By fearlessly confronting the impacts of this country’s violent past, Dirrayawadha is a commanding act of truth-telling and Heiss is to be applauded for having the courage to deliver it to us.' -- <B>Sally Piper, author of</B> <B><I>Bone Memories</I></B>
