Nadia Wheatley

Last updated

Nadia Wheatley
NadiaWheatley.jpg
Born (1949-04-30) 30 April 1949 (age 74)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationWriter
Known for Children's fiction, historical fiction, short stories, articles
Website www.nadiawheatley.com

Nadia Wheatley is an Australian writer whose work includes picture books, novels, biography and history. Perhaps best known for her classic picture book My Place (illustrated by Donna Rawlins), the author's biography of Charmian Clift was described by critic Peter Craven as 'one of the greatest Australian biographies'. [1] Another book by Wheatley is A Banner Bold, a historical novel.

Contents

While some of the author's books for children and young adults have been honoured in the annual awards of the Children's Book Council of Australia, in 2014 Nadia was nominated by IBBY Australia for the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing — the highest international recognition given to a living author whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children's literature.

In 2014 Wheatley was admitted by the University of Sydney to the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa), in recognition of 'her exceptional creative achievements in the field of children's and adult literature, her work as a historian and her contribution to our understanding of Indigenous issues, cultural diversity, equity and social justice and the environment through story'. [2]

Life

Nadia Wheatley was born in Sydney. She was educated at Meriden School, the University of Sydney (BA Hons 1970) and Macquarie University (MA Hons 1976).

In 1975, Wheatley went to Greece to live, with her then-partner, poet Martin Johnston, son of Australian writers George Johnston and Charmian Clift. [3] It was here that she began to write seriously. [4] The couple lived in the town of Chania, Crete, and in a coastal village in the Peloponnese, and had a routine of writing six days a week. On her return to Australia in 1978 Wheatley lived in the Sydney suburb of Newtown, which provided the setting for her first three books — Five Times Dizzy, Dancing in the Anzac Deli and The House that was Eureka.

After spending some years in Apollo Bay [5] Victoria and the Blue Mountains, the author returned to Sydney in 1995, where she lives in the Cooks River Valley — the ‘place’ of her classic picture book, My Place.

Career

Wheatley's first book, Five Times Dizzy (1983) was acclaimed as Australia's first multicultural book for children. [6] Awarded the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Special Children's Book Award, it became a television mini-series that went to air on the new multicultural channel SBS in 1986.

The picture book, My Place, has also been produced as television mini-series 26-part television adaptation, with Nadia Wheatley acting as history consultant and story consultant. [7] Released on the ABC in 2009 and 2011, My Place was acknowledged as Most Outstanding Children's Series in the 2012 Logie Awards.

Wheatley also used her background as a historian in the writing of the historical novel, The House that was Eureka (1986), set in the turbulent anti-eviction battles of the Great Depression. Described by critic Maurice Saxby as ‘a novel of enduring significance’, [8] this was republished in 2014 as a Text Classic.

While Wheatley was producing these books for children and young adults, she was also researching and writing a biography of the acclaimed Australian author, Charmian Clift. Published by HarperCollins, The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift won The Age Book of the Year — Non Fiction (2001) and the Australian History Prize in the New South Wales Premier's History Awards (2002).

Over the last decade, Nadia Wheatley has collaborated with artist Ken Searle to produce a set of non-fiction books that exemplify the Papunya Model of Education — an Indigenous curriculum model that puts the Country at the centre of learning.

This journey began during the period 1998 to 2001, when Wheatley and Searle worked as consultants at the school at Papunya (an Aboriginal community in the Western Desert, Northern Territory). While assisting the Anangu staff and students to develop resources for their curriculum, the two consultants helped produce the multi-award-winning Papunya School Book of Country and History (Allen & Unwin, 2002). [9]

Wheatley and Searle subsequently took part in the Australian Society of Authors funded mentorship program for Indigenous authors, supporting Papunya artist and teacher, Mary Malbunka, to write and illustrate her picture book memoir, When I was Little, Like You (2003, Allen & Unwin). [10]

"Going Bush" project

Going Bush
AuthorNadia Wheatley
Illustrator Ken Searle
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Genre Children's non-fiction
Publisher Allen and Unwin
Publication date
March 2007
Media typePrint (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-74114-911-1
OCLC 174105642

Nadia's book Going Bush grew out of a Harmony Day project developed in 2003 by eight inner-Sydney city schools. The initial plan was to break down barriers between the communities but it developed into a larger project which included learning about the environment, Indigenous culture, and living in multicultural communities, and involved sixteen Muslim, Catholic and government schools. In 2005 Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle were invited by the committee to work with the children on "the theme of freedom". [11] Wheatley and Searle used an educational model they had developed with others in the 1990s at Papunya School in Central Australia which "puts country at the core of the curriculum". [11] The result was the book, Going Bush, which captures what the children learnt through exploring a section of urban bushland along Wolli Creek. [11] [12]

Awards and nominations

Five Times Dizzy

Dancing in the Anzac Deli

The House that Was Eureka

My Place

won the devil award (2000)

Lucy in the Leap Year

The Night Tolkien Died

Highway

Papunya School Book of Country and History

The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift

Going Bush

Australians All

Selected bibliography

Children's

Adult

Notes

  1. ↑ Craven, Peter (11–12 August 2001). "Review Section". Sydney Morning Herald: 12.
  2. ↑ "University of Sydney Honorary Awards Nadia Wheatley". University of Sydney. University of Sydney. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Tranter (1993)
  4. ↑ AusLit (2007)
  5. ↑ Price, Jackie (1987). Not a Bad Place the Bay. Apollo Bay: Killala Road Publishing Company. pp. 6–10.
  6. ↑ "Nadia Wheatley". Allen & Unwin. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  7. ↑ Wheatley, Nadia (2010). Making My Place. HarperCollins. ISBN   9780733327940.
  8. ↑ Saxby, Maurice. "Reviews". Reading Time. 45 (3): 46.
  9. ↑ Linnett, Hunter (September 2001). "The Papunya Schoolbook of Country and History". Magpies. 16 (4).
  10. ↑ Diamond (May 2005). "Nadia Wheatley, Remembering Mary Malbunka". Magpies.
  11. 1 2 3 Students "going bush" in the city (2007)
  12. ↑ Allen and Unwin Media Release for "Going Bush" (2007)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charmian Clift</span> Australian writer (1923–1969)

Charmian Clift was an Australian writer. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston.

Carmelina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. Marchetta is best known as the author of teen novels, Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004. For Jellicoe Road she won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's best book for young adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libby Hathorn</span> Australian childrens writer

Elizabeth Helen Hathorn is an Australian writer for children, and a poet who works with schools, institutions and communities. She has received many awards for her books, some of which have been translated into several languages. In 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for her contribution to children's theatre. In 2014 she was awarded the Alice Award for her contribution to Australian literature. In 2017 she won the Asher Peace Prize and in 2022 the ABIA Pixie O'Harris Award for excellence and dedication to children's literature.

Alyssa Brugman is an Australian author of fiction for young adults. She was born in Rathmines, a suburb of Lake Macquarie, Australia and attended five public schools before completing a Marketing Degree at the University of Newcastle. She resides in the Hunter Region.

Catherine Bateson is an Australian writer.

Margaret Wild is an Australian children's writer. She has written more than 40 books for children. Her work has been published around the world and has won several awards. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Silvey</span> Australian novelist and musician

Craig Silvey is an Australian novelist. Silvey has twice been named one of the Best Young Australian Novelists by The Sydney Morning Herald and has been shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. His 2009 second novel was selected by the American Library Association as "Best Fiction for Young Adults" in their 2012 list, and was made into the movie Jasper Jones in 2017.

Ken Searle is an Australian artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Freeman</span> Australian writer

Pamela Freeman is an Australian author of books for both adults and children. Most of her work is fantasy but she has also written mystery stories, science fiction, family dramas and non-fiction. Her first adult series, the Castings Trilogy is published globally by Orbit Books. She is best known in Australia for the junior novel Victor’s Quest and an associated series, the Floramonde books, and for The Black Dress: Mary MacKillop’s Early Years, which won the NSW Premier's History Prize in 2006.

Gus Gordon is a children's book illustrator and writer based in Sydney, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Watts</span> Australian writer

Frances Watts is the pen-name of Ali Lavau, a Swiss born Australian author, who moved to Sydney, Australia when she was three years old. She has studied English literature at Macquarie University, going on to teach Australian Literature and children's literature. After graduating with a PhD, she obtained her first job in publishing.

Kirsty Murray is an Australian author. Murray writes children's fiction with a focus on Australian history. She is known for the Children of the Wind series of children's novels. She is a recipient of the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction.

<i>Hitlers Daughter</i> Book by Jackie French

Hitler's Daughter is a children's novel by Australian children's author Jackie French. It was first published in 1999, and is one of French's most critically acclaimed books.

Rosanne Hawke is an Australian author from Penola, South Australia who has written over 25 books for young adults and children. She teaches tertiary level creative writing at Tabor Adelaide. She has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Adelaide.

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigid Lowry</span> New Zealand author

Brigid Lowry is a New Zealand author.

Bren MacDibble is a New Zealand-born writer of children's and young adult books based in Australia. Bren also writes under the name Cally Black. She uses the alias to distinguish between books written for younger children and books written for young adults.

Fiona Anna Wood is an Australian writer of young adult fiction. She is a three-time winner of the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers award.

Zana Fraillon is an Australian writer of fiction for children and young adults based in Melbourne, Australia. Fraillon is known for allowing young readers to examine human rights abuses within fiction and in 2017 she won an Amnesty CILIP Honour for her book The Bone Sparrow which highlights the plight of the Rohingya people. The Bone Sparrow has been translated to stage and is set to premier in the York Theatre Royal, England, from 25 February 2022.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.