AustLit
Interviews
One: In Conversation with Kirli Saunders
Kirli Saunders is a proud Gunai woman, with ties to the Yuin, Gundungurra, Gadigal and Biripi people. She currently resides on Dharawal Country. Kirli is an international children’s author, poet, emerging playwright and artist.
Two: In Conversation with Alison Whittaker
Alison Whittaker is a Gomeroi multitasker from the floodplains of Gunnedah in NSW. Between 2017–2018, she was a Fulbright scholar at Harvard Law School, where she was named the Dean’s Scholar in Race, Gender and Criminal Law.
Three: In Conversation with Brenton McKenna
Brenton E. McKenna, a Yawuru graphic artist and novelist, was born in Broome in 1982 and lived there until he was fifteen. In his teenage years he taught himself to draw by copying images from comics and a cartooning book given to him by a high school art teacher.
Four: In Conversation with Rachel Bin Salleh
Rachel Bin Salleh is the publisher at Magabala Books in Broome. A Nimanburr and Yawuru woman, she began at Magabala as an editorial intern in 1993 and has worked as a bookseller, trainee editor, editor, marketing assistant, production assistant, Acting Sales Manager and now Publisher.
Five: In Conversation with Jannali Jones
Jannali Jones is a Krowathunkoolong woman of the Kurnai nation. She is a lawyer and writer and enjoys writing mainly in the areas of fantasy and science fiction. In 2010 Jannali was enrolled in a Masters Of Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Technology, Sydney. She has been awarded a High Commendation for her Indigenous writing in the McDonalds Performing Arts Challenge.
Six: In Conversation with Jane Harrison
Playwright, critic, and novelist Jane Harrison is a descendant of the Muruwari people and a significant figure in the Melbourne theatre scene. She is best known for her play Stolen, but is also a critic of theatre and the author of the novel Becoming Kirrali Lewis.
Seven: In Conversation with Kim Scott
Scott is Wirlomin Noongar man who grew up near Albany, in southern Western Australia. In 2000, Scott became the first Indigenous author to win the Miles Franklin Literary Award, with his novel Benang: From the Heart (1999). In 2011 he won both the Miles Franklin and the Australian Literature Society’s Gold Medal with That Deadman Dance (2010).
Eight: In Conversation with Grace Lucas-Pennington
Grace Lucas-Pennington is a young Aboriginal woman of Bundjalung/European descent. Growing up, she spent her time between Northern NSW and the Logan/Brisbane area. Grace is interested in publishing, politics, media, social justice, and the arts. She is passionate about First Nations writing, and promoting our stories. Grace has had a position with the Black&write! Indigenous Writing and Editing Project as a Trainee Editor.
Image credit: Julie Constable, Corner Inlet, Ramsar Site with Wilsons Promontory National Park in background, 2018. CSIRO via Wikimedia Commons. Source.
Suggested Citation: Heiss, Anita. In Conversation with BlackWords - Series 2. St Lucia, Qld: AustLit, 2019. www.austlit.edu.au/blackwordsinterviewsS2
