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Julie Janson Julie Janson i(A15650 works by) (a.k.a. Julie Jedda Janson)
Gender: Female
Heritage: Aboriginal ; Aboriginal Dharug
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BiographyHistory

Julie Janson began writing plays with the Australian Aboriginal community while living in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Some of her plays include 'Lotus War '(radio and stage - about a Vietnamese warrior women written for the Asian Arts Festival and the Adelaide Fringe Festival), 'Season to Taste' (radio and stage), 'Venus in Eritrea,', 'Kera Putih' [White Monkey], set in Bali and 'Satan in Arizona'. Her plays often have an Indigenous and an inter-cultural focus.

In 2001, she was awarded an Asialink Literature Residency in Indonesia. During her residency in Indonesia, she workshopped 'The Crocodile Hotel', set in the Northern Territory in the 1970s and Sulawesi in 1920. She also visited theatres and arts organisations across Java, Sumatra and Bali and was hosted by Petra University in Surabaya

She has also been a Writer in Residence in Canberra and Hobart in 2002.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2022-2023 shortlisted Adaptable (Queensland Writers Centre)
2022 winner Queensland Poetry Festival Awards QRAA Ekphrasis Challenge for 'Sea Green Serpent', after 'My Place (Sea Green)', by Rosella Namok.
2022 recipient ASA Mentorship Fiction

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Madukka the River Serpent Crawley : UWA Publishing , 2022 25102253 2022 single work novel crime 'Aunty June is the proud owner of a TAFE certificate III in Investigative Services. It took her thirty hours to complete online. Now, she has set up her own private investigation service: Yanakirri Investigative Services — Confidentiality Guaranteed. When environmental activist, Thommo, suddenly goes missing and the police ignore the case Aunty June takes it upon herself to uncover the secrets surrounding her nephew, Thommo’s, disappearance. Corruption, commercial cotton farmers, bikies, racism, water theft, and unreliable local police — Aunty June is really up against it. Lies and corruption are hiding the truth from reaching the surface. And the Murray Darling River is running out of water. Aunty June may be out of her depths, but nothing will stop her fighting for her people and her land. (Publication summary)
2023 longlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel
2023 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
y separately published work icon Benevolence Broome : Magabala Books , 2020 18673106 2020 single work novel historical fiction

'For perhaps the first time in novel form, Benevolence presents an important era in Australia’s history from an Aboriginal perspective.

'Benevolence is told from the perspective of Darug woman, Muraging (Mary James), born around 1813. Mary’s was one of the earliest Darug generations to experience the impact of British colonisation. At an early age Muraging is given over to the Parramatta Native School by her Darug father. From here she embarks on a journey of discovery and a search for a safe place to make her home.

'The novel spans the years 1816-35 and is set around the Hawkesbury River area, the home of the Darug people, Parramatta and Sydney. The author interweaves historical events and characters - she shatters stereotypes and puts a human face to this Aboriginal perspective.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2022 shortlisted Barbara Jefferis Award
2021 longlisted Voss Literary Prize
2020 longlisted Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature
Acacia Land i "Can you see this picture - in Ngiyampaa and Gamilaraay country?", 2019 single work poetry
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 234 2019; (p. 24-26) Groundswell: The Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Artists 2021; (p. 96-97)
2018 winner The Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize

Known archival holdings

Drafts of three plays and notes and correspondence connected with them, together with three notebooks. The plays are Gunjies (1990-91, produced 1993); Lotus War (1993-95, produced 1995) and Black Mary (1992-96, produced 1997). National Library of Australia (ACT)
Last amended 25 Aug 2021 13:59:11
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