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Nadia Wheatley Nadia Wheatley i(A24634 works by)
Also writes as: N. K. Mara
Born: Established: 1949 Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Nadia Wheatley grew up in Strathfield and in 1966 began an Arts Degree at The University of Sydney, with the intention of majoring in English, but switched to History, graduating with Honours in 1970. In 1972 she moved to Newtown, an inner city suburb of Sydney, and in 1975 she went to Greece to live, and there began to write seriously. She earned a MA Honours degree from Macquarie University in 1976.

Late in 1978, after some months in London, Wheatley returned to Newtown, New South Wales. Her first children's book, Five Times Dizzy, published in 1982, received the New South Wales (NSW) Premier's Special Children's Book Award in 1983, and was produced as a twelve part television series.

Her second book, Dancing in the Anzac Deli, was commended in the 1985 Australian Children's Book of the Year Awards and received the 1986 IBBY Honour Diploma for Writing. Both these books reflect her experiences of living in Greece as well as in Newtown, New South Wales. Her book for young adults, The House That Was Eureka, was based on material for her Master's thesis (the Sydney Anti-Eviction Campaign of 1931) and it won the 1985 NSW Premier's Award. Her book My Place, a picture book full of maps and words spanning 200 years of history, reflected Wheatley's interest in Australian history. It won the 1988 Book of the Year: Younger Readers Award from the Children's Book Council Of Australia. In 1994, Lucy in the Leap Year was an Honour Book in the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2018 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships

Literature Arts Projects For Individuals and Groups $32,000.00

2014 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships New Work - Established Writers 14-15 Non-fiction
2014 joint winner ASA Medal

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Her Mother's Daughter : A Memoir Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2018 13938951 2018 single work biography

''Why didn’t you and Daddy want people to give you any presents?' I used to ask. But my mother could never be drawn into talking about the wedding. I assumed it was because she did not wish to be reminded of the ghastly mistake she had made in marrying my father.

'AS a child, Nadia Wheatley had a sense of the great divide between her parents, who had met and married while working in Germany on the front line of the Cold War. Growing up in 1950s Australia, the child became a player in their deadly contest. Was she her mother’s daughter, or her father’s creature?

'At the age of ten, the author began writing down her mother’s stories: her Cinderella-like childhood, and her escape into a career as army nurse and refugee aid worker. Fifty years later, the finished memoir is not only a loving tribute but also a social history of twentieth-century Australia, told through the lives of a mother and her daughter.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2019 winner 'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature The Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize
2019 winner Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature
y separately published work icon Flight Kew East : Windy Hollow , 2015 8300096 2015 single work picture book children's (taught in 1 units)

'Tonight is the night.

'The family has to flee.

'They've been tipped off that the authorities are after their blood.

'Set in biblical times, a small family sets off across a desert in search of refuge from persecution in their own country, and an ancient story becomes a fable for our times. Their journey is beset by heat and thirst, threatening tanks and the loss of their donkey, but eventually they reach a refugee camp where they can wait in safety for asylum in another country.

'In this first-time collaboration between multi-award-winning author, Nadia Wheatley, and internationally-renowned illustrator, Armin Greder, words and images blend seamlessly to take readers on a journey they will never forget. ' (Publication summary)

2016 winner CBCA Book of the Year Awards Picture Book of the Year
2016 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Notable Book Picture Book
2016 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Books
2016 selected White Ravens
y separately published work icon Playground : Listening to Stories from Country and from Inside the Heart East Melbourne : Allen and Unwin , 2011 Z1781087 2011 anthology prose Indigenous story '"We use the bush as our school and as our playground", says one of the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people whose voices combine in this anthology of true stories about childhood, compiled from a wide range of memoirs and oral histories. Alongside reminiscences of getting bush tucker, going fishing and taking part in ceremony, there are descriptions of playing games, building cubbies and having fun. The warmth of home, the love of family and the strength of community shine through every story. Freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility, while respect and sharing are constant themes. The eighty Elders - both past and present - who have contributed their words or artwork to this book include many prominent community leaders, educators and artists. Their life-stories span the twentieth century. Just as important are the contemporary stories told by twenty secondary school students. Although some of these young people now make their home in the city, their connection to traditional country remains the source of learning. As we listen to these stories that come from country and from inside the heart, we find wisdom that could help us care for each other and for the land where we all now live.' Source: ww.allenandunwin.com/ (Sighted 25/5/2011).
2012 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Notable Book Eve Pownall Award
2012 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's History Prize New South Wales History Prize Young People's History Prize
2012 winner Educational Publishing Awards Australia Primary Educational Picture or Chapter Book
2012 shortlisted CBCA Book of the Year Awards Eve Pownall Award for Information Books

Known archival holdings

Lu Rees Archives (ACT)
National Library of Australia (ACT)
Last amended 11 Sep 2018 16:09:40
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