Ali Cobby Eckermann

Last updated
Ali Cobby Eckermann
Known forPoetry
Notable worklittle bit long time, Ruby Moonlight, She is the Earth
AwardsWindham-Campbell Literature Prize

Ali Cobby Eckermann (born 1963) is an Australian poet of Aboriginal Australian ancestry. She is a Yankunytjatjara woman born on Kaurna land in South Australia.

Contents

Eckermann has written poetry collections, verse novels and a memoir, and has been shortlisted for or won several literary awards. In 2017, she won the international Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Poetry. She is a two-time winner of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Book of the Year (2013, 2024), the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry (2013) and Indigenous Writers' Prize (2024). She has travelled extensively, performing her poetry.

Early life

Ali Cobby Eckermann was born Penelope Rae Cobby at the Kate Cocks Memorial Babies’ Home in Adelaide, [1] traditional home of the Kaurna people, in 1963. [2] She was adopted as a baby by a Lutheran couple, Clarrie and Frieda Eckermann. [1] She grew up on a farm, and did her schooling at Brinkworth Area School and Clare High School, in mid-north South Australia. [3]

Eckermann, her mother and her grandmother were all stolen, tricked or adopted away from their birth families, becoming part of the Stolen Generations. [4]

She grew up in a loving supportive home, but she was assaulted sexually by a family friend when she seven years old, and experienced ongoing abuse and racism while growing up. At 17 she left home with a man with whom she lived for two years, but whom she left due to his violence. She returned home, only to discover she was pregnant, and gave birth when she was 19. Her son was adopted out. [1]

After turning 18, Eckermann began searching for her birth mother, Audrey, but didn't find her until she was 34, after information had been released with the Bringing Them Home report in 1997. [5] [1] Four years later, she found her son Jonnie. [1]

Most of her early adult life was spent in the Northern Territory, on Arrernte country, Jawoyn country and Larrakia country. [5] She worked in various places, including a remote arts centre outside Alice Springs.

She says "I learnt to live in two different ways over my life. I learnt a good example of hard work and kindness from growing up with my mum and dad in my adopted family. And I’m extremely grateful that my traditional family welcomed me back with such love and honesty. I got a second chance to live in an honest world". [1]

Eckermann's first poems were published in primary school. [6]

Aboriginal writers that she met through festivals and workshops were her early inspirations, authors and poets such as Boori Pryor, Lionel Fogarty, Bill Neidje, Eva Johnson, Terry Whitebeach, Kim Scott, Romaine Morton and Alexis Wright. [6]

Writing career

Eckermann's literary career was established in 2009 after she submitted her first collection of poetry to a manuscript competition run by Australian Poetry. It was published under the title, little bit long time, first in pamphlet form by the Australian Poetry Centre and then in book form, both in 2009. Its subject matter is the problematic history of Indigenous Australians since colonial times, which means that she explores both her own life and experience, as an indigenous woman, as well as looking at the historical perspective. She returns to this subject matter repeatedly in her work.

Since then, she has published three more poetry collections, two verse novels and a memoir.

Her third book, and second verse novel, Ruby Moonlight, won a State Library of Queensland black&write! Writing Fellowship in 2012. [7] [8] Ruby Moonlight was awarded both Book of the Year and the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry in the 2013 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.

Eckermann founded Australia's first Aboriginal Writers Retreat in Koolunga, in a 130-year-old general store which she restored. [3]

In 2014, she participated in the International Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, United States as the first Aboriginal Australian writer to attend. [9]

Her memoir Too Afraid to Cry won the inaugural Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Fellowship at the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature in 2016. [10]

Verse novels

Eckermann has written three verse novels, His Father's Eyes,Ruby Moonlight and She is the Earth.

Ruby Moonlight is set in remote South Australia in the 1880s. It explores, writes Sarah Holland-Batt, "broader ideas about colonialism’s hierarchies and power structures, and its lingering historical impact on the first peoples of this country, on language, and on the very landscape itself. One of the most remarkable things about Ruby Moonlight is the subtlety with which its political implications are handled: Eckermann invites (rather than dictates) political readings of what is, at heart, a simple and highly engaging narrative." [11]

Other activities

As of 2021, Eckermann is on the board of the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN). [12]

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian literature</span> Literature by Australian writers

Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.

The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form. It is named after Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971).

Lionel Fogarty, also published as Lionel Lacey, is an Indigenous Australian poet and political activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordie Albiston</span> Australian poet and academic (1961–2022)

Jordie Albiston was an Australian poet.

<i>The Secret River</i> 2005 novel by Kate Grenville

The Secret River is a 2005 historical novel by Kate Grenville about an early 19th-century Englishman transported to Australia for theft. The story explores what might have happened when Europeans colonised land already inhabited by Aboriginal people. The book has been compared to Thomas Keneally's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and to Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang for its style and historical theme.

Judith Beveridge is a contemporary Australian poet, editor and academic. She is a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award.

The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction.

Catherine Bateson is an Australian writer.

Jill Jones is a poet and writer from Sydney, Australia. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide.

Alexis Wright is a Waanyi writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel Carpentaria and for being the first writer to win the Stella Prize twice, in 2018 for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" Tilmouth and in 2024 for Praiseworthy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tara June Winch</span> Australian writer

Tara June Winch is an Australian writer. She is the 2020 winner of the Miles Franklin Award for her book The Yield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Holland-Batt</span> Australian poet and academic

Sarah Holland-Batt is a contemporary Australian poet, critic, and academic.

Judith Bishop is a contemporary Australian poet, linguist and translator.

Queensland Poetry Festival is the flagship program of Queensland Poetry one of Australia's premier organisations for all things poetry. It exists to support and promote a poetry culture in Queensland and Australia, embracing the wide possibility of poetic expression in all of its forms. As well as hosting an annual festival, Queensland Poetry also produces a number of signature projects and programs throughout the year.

The Donald Windham Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes are an American literary award which offers unrestricted grants in four categories, namely fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama. Established at Yale University in 2011, the first prizes were presented in 2013. Administered by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the award recognizes English language writers from across the world. The mission of the award is to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns. In 2017 the category of poetry was added and eight prizes have been awarded annually since then.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileen Chong</span> Australian poet

Eileen Chong is an Australian contemporary poet.

Tony Birch is an Aboriginal Australian author, academic and activist. He regularly appears on ABC local radio and Radio National shows and at writers’ festivals. He was head of the honours programme for creative writing at the University of Melbourne before becoming the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne in June 2015.

Ellen van Neerven is an Aboriginal Australian writer, educator and editor. Their first work of fiction, Heat and Light (2013), won several awards, and in 2019 Van Neerven won the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Award. Their second collection of poetry, Throat (2020), won three awards at the 2021 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, including Book of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous Australian literature</span> Literature produced by Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australian literature is the fiction, plays, poems, essays and other works authored by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.

Evelyn Araluen is an Australian poet and literary editor. She won the 2022 Stella Prize with her first book, Dropbear.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Eckermann, Ali Cobby. "My life as a stolen child". news.com.au. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Ali Cobby Eckermann". Poetry International Rotterdam. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Ali Eckermann". PoemHunter.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Ladd, Mike. "Poetry Review: Krissy Kneen and Ali Cobby Eckermann and their family influences". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Ali Cobby Eckermann". The Conversation. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  6. 1 2 Brennan, Michael. "Interview with Ali Cobby Eckermann". www.poetryinternational.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  7. ↑ Sarangi, Jaydeep (12 April 2015). "Ali Cobby Eckermann in conversation with Jaydeep Sarangi". Mascara Literary Review. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  8. ↑ "Sovereign Stories". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  9. ↑ "2014 Resident Participants | The International Writing Program". iwp.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "Ali Cobby Eckermann". Griffith Review. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  11. ↑ Holland-Batt, Sarah (2013). "Verse novels in review" (PDF). Southerly. 72 (3). Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  12. ↑ "Board". First Nations Australia Writers Network. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Mem: 7636096. "Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2016 winners announced | Books+Publishing" . Retrieved 21 May 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing 2016 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 2 September 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  15. ↑ "Ali Cobby Eckermann". Windham-Campbell Prizes. Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Vincent, Michael (11 July 2017). "Turning pain into poetry success". ABC News. ABC. Lateline. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  17. ↑ "Windham-Campbell Prizes: Recipients". Windham-Campbell Prizes. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  18. ↑ "Ali Cobby Eckermann: Writer, Poet and Australia Council's New Literary Fellow". Australia Council. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  19. ↑ Story, Hannah (20 May 2024). "Aboriginal poet wins $40,000 at major literary awards with 'profound' verse novel". ABC News. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
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.