Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms

Dr. Anita Heiss is an Australian author, poet, cultural activist, and social commentator. She was born in 1968 in Gadigal country and is a member of the Wiradjuri Nation of central New South Wales. She is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, Western Sydney University. She writes non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women's fiction, children's novels, and blogs. Her books include Tiddas (2014) and Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms (2016), the 2020 University of Canberra Book of the Year. Her most recent book is entitled Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (2021). She has won numerous awards including 2 NSW Premier History Awards, 2002 and 2003; 4 of the Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature for Not Meeting Mr. Right (2007), Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature (2008) with Peter Minter, Manhattan Dreaming (2010), and Paris Dreaming (2011). In 2012, she won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing for Am I Black Enough for You? Her career includes, Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, the GO Foundation and Worawa Aboriginal College. Anita is a board member of University of Queensland Press and Circa Contemporary Circus and is a Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland.

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