Nardi Simpson (born 1975) is a Yuwaalaraay musician and writer in Australia. She is a founding member of the Indigenous folk group Stiff Gins. Her debut novel, Song of the Crocodile, was published in 2020.
Nardi Simpson was born in Sydney in 1975. [1] [2] [3] Her family is Yuwaalaraay Aboriginal Australian from New South Wales, and she spent a significant portion of her childhood visiting the area. [1] [4] [5]
After attending Eora College, [6] she graduated from the University of Sydney with a bachelor's degree in Aboriginal studies. [7]
Simpson has been a musician for over two decades. [8] She is a founding member of the Indigenous folk group Stiff Gins, which she co-founded in 1999. [9] [10] The group has produced several recordings, starting with their debut EP Soh Fa in 1999 and their debut album Origins in 2001. [6] [11] She is also the founder of the Sydney-based Barayagal Choir. [1] [12]
In addition to performing, she is also a composer, described by ABC as "one of the most exciting Australian composers of her generation." [13] She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in composition from the Australian National University. [14] [15] [16] In 2019 she began participating in the Ngarra Burria First Nations Composers Initiative. [1] [15]
In 2018, Simpson won the State Library of Queensland's black&write! Writing Fellowship for her debut novel, Song of the Crocodile, which was published in 2020 by Hachette Publishing [17] . [4] [8] [9] Song of the Crocodile tells the story of three generations of women in the same family navigating tensions between Indigenous and settler families as their town grows, incorporating musical elements and the Yuwaalaraay language. [8] [9] [18] Simpson has also written journal articles, including for the Griffith Review . [19]
The novel received significant recognition, including being longlisted for the Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Award, and shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing and The Age 's book of the year. [4] [5] [8] It was the winner of the 2021 ALS Gold Medal and the 2021 University of Queensland Fiction Book Award. [5] [20]
Her second novel, The Belburd, was published in 2024. [21] It brings together the story of an Indigenous poet in present-day Sydney and the stories of late-18th-century figures in the same area. [21]
Simpson wrote the introduction to Ruby Langford Ginibi's best-selling and seminal work of Indigenous memoir, Don't Take Your Love to Town, which was reprinted in 2023 as part of the University of Queensland Press' First Nations Classics series. The series showcases several Unaipon Award winners, and is inspired by the richness and cultural importance of First Nations Australians writing. [22]
Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Song of the Crocodile | Australian Literature Society | ALS Gold Medal | Won | [5] |
Indie Book Awards | Debut Fiction | Shortlisted | [4] | ||
Miles Franklin Award | — | Longlisted | [4] | ||
MUD Literary Prize | — | Shortlisted | [4] | ||
NSW Premier's Literary Awards | UTS Glenda Adams Award | Shortlisted | [4] | ||
Queensland Literary Awards | Fiction Book Award | Won | [20] | ||
Stella Prize | — | Longlisted | [23] | ||
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards | Indigenous Writing | Shortlisted | [4] |
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec's number-four time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she had lit the Olympic Flame.
Jane Harrison is an Australian First Nations playwright, novelist, literary festival director and researcher.
Deborah Jane Mailman is an Australian television and film actress, and singer. Mailman is known for her characters: Kelly Lewis on the Australian drama series The Secret Life of Us, Cherie Butterfield in the Australian comedy-drama series Offspring, Lorraine in the Australian drama series Redfern Now and Aunt Linda in the Australian dystopian science fiction series Cleverman. Mailman portrayed the lead role of MP Alexandra "Alex" Irving on the Australian political drama series Total Control.
Patricia June O'Shane is a retired Australian teacher, barrister, public servant, jurist, and Aboriginal activist. She was Australia's first Aboriginal magistrate, serving the Local Court in Sydney, New South Wales, between 1986 until her retirement in 2013.
Emma Donovan is an Aboriginal Australian singer and songwriter. She is a member of the renowned musical Donovan family. She started her singing career at age seven with her uncle's band, the Donovans. In 2000, she became a founding member of Stiff Gins, leaving the band three years later to release the solo album Changes in 2004. She performs with the Black Arm Band and released a solo EP, Ngaaraanga, in 2009.
Larissa Yasmin Behrendt is an Australian legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate. As of 2022 she is a professor of law and director of research and academic programs at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney, and holds the inaugural Chair in Indigenous Research at UTS.
Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter, also known as Aunty Ruby, was an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist, and the life and musical partner of Archie Roach.
William Barton is an Aboriginal Australian composer and multi-instrumentalist, known for his and didgeridoo (yidaki) playing, particularly with classical orchestras.
Tara June Winch is an Australian writer. She is the 2020 winner of the Miles Franklin Award for her book The Yield.
Anita Marianne Heiss is an Aboriginal Australian author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator. She is an advocate for Indigenous Australian literature and literacy, through her writing for adults and children and her membership of boards and committees.
The Bundjalung people, also spelled Bunjalung, Badjalang and Bandjalang, are Aboriginal Australians who are the original custodians of a region from around Grafton in northern coastal New South Wales to Beaudesert in south-east Queensland. The region is located approximately 550 kilometres (340 mi) northeast of Sydney and 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Brisbane that now includes the Bundjalung National Park.
The Stiff Gins are an Indigenous Australian band from Sydney. They call their music "acoustic with harmonies" and are regularly compared to Tiddas. The band was formed by Emma Donovan, Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs in 1999, after meeting at the Eora Centre while studying music. The band's name uses the word gin with the word stiff to become strong black woman, a name which caused debate about use of the word gin.
Deborah Joy Cheetham Fraillon is an Aboriginal Australian soprano, actor, composer, and playwright. She leads Short Black Opera, based in Melbourne, which provides training and opportunities for emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musical artists.
Mark Ross, known as Munk or Munkimuk is a Sydney-based hip hop performer and music producer. He is known as The Grandfather of Indigenous Hip Hop and has been performing since 1984 as a breakdancer and rapping since 1988. He is known for his music production, MCíng, breakdancing, event hosting and radio broadcasting. He has also been quoted as an influence on quite a few Australian hip hop artists. He has been working in the music industry for 30 years and has mentored and produced countless artists and acts both in Australia and Asia.
Leah Flanagan is an Australian singer-songwriter and arts administrator from Darwin, Northern Territory. based in Sydney. She has released several albums and has toured Australia with her music and as a part of festival ensembles.
Kathleen Mary Mills, also known as Mooradoop and Aunty Kathy, was an Australian community leader, singer, Aboriginal elder and activist in the Northern Territory of Australia. She had a large family, all musical, with several of her daughters being well known as the Mills Sisters.
The Yugambeh–Bandjalangic peoples are an Aboriginal Australian ethnolinguistic group identified by their use of one of more of the Yugambeh–Bundjalung languages and shared cultural practices and histories. There are roughly 15 individual groups, who together form a wider cultural bloc or polity often described as Bundjalung or "Three Brothers Mob".
Rhoda Ann Roberts is an Australian theatre and arts director, arts executive, television presenter, and actor. She was head of Indigenous programming at the Sydney Opera House from 2012 until 2021, among many other roles. She is also a highly respected Aboriginal elder, being afforded the title "Aunty". She was a co-founder of the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust in 1987; has written for, produced, and presented work on television; was a producer at the Indigenous media agency Vibe Australia; founded the Festival of the Dreaming in 1997; and was cultural advisor for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She has also acted in, written, and directed numerous stage productions.
Elaine Crombie is an Aboriginal Australian actress, known for her work on stage and television. She is also a singer, songwriter, comedian, writer and producer.
Nikita Ridgeway is a Bundjalung/Biripi graphic designer from Australia, who was awarded the a BBC 100 Women Award in 2015 in recognition of her entrepreneurial work and advocacy for Aboriginal graphic design.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)