Donna Williams (author)
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- For other people of the same name see Donna Williams.
Donna Williams (born 1963) is a best-selling Australian-born author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and sculptor diagnosed with autism after a childhood in which she was initially tested multiple times for deafness and later labelled disturbed before treatment for gut, immune and sensory perceptual disorders in adulthood.
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[edit] Books
Her first book was the autobiographical Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic Girl . It was an international number one bestseller with 10 weeks at number one on the New York Times Bestseller List. It was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Prize for Literacy in 1992, has sold over half a million copies worldwide and was translated into 20 languages.
Somebody Somewhere (1994) is her second number 1 bestseller and the sequel to Nobody Nowhere that picks up the story of getting the first book published, and how that changed her life.
Later autobiographical works include Like Colour To The Blind (1998), and Everyday Heaven (2004).
She has also written several Autism text books:
- Autism and Sensing: The Unlost Instinct
- Exposure Anxiety - The Invisible Cage: An Exploration of Self-Protection Responses in the Autism Spectrum
- Autism - an inside-out Approach: An Innovative Look at the Mechanics of Autism and Its Developmental Cousins
- The Jumbled Jigsaw: An Insider's Approach to the Treatment of Autistic Spectrum "Fruit Salads"
and one collection of her poetry and prose:
- Not Just Anything: A Collection of Thoughts on Paper published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers .
She has also written forewords in other author's autism-related books, and is involved with a number of websites (see below).
[edit] Film
She has written several feature length screenplays, the first of which was the screen adaptation of her international bestselling autobiography, Nobody Nowhere and is currently optioned to Hollywood producer, Beverly Nero with her other screenplays represented by Liz Hanley of Bicoastal Talent, Burbank, CA.
[edit] TV Documentaries
Donna Williams featured in four television documentaries:
MY EXPERIENCE WITH AUTISM, EMOTION AND BEHAVIOUR, 1993, Eye to Eye with Connie Chung, USA (in English).
JAM JAR, 1995, by Fresh Film in association with BBC4, aired in the UK and was nominated for the Mental Health Media Award (in English).
KRANKHEIT ALS SHICKSAL (also titled DANN VERSTEHE ICH AUCH NUR BLA, BLA, BLA), 1995, a Spiegel TV Special, by Spiegel TV, aired 25th/1/97 throughout Germany (in German).
YOKOSO WATASHI NO SEKAI E "JIHEISHO" DONNA WILLIAMS, 1995, by NHK TV, Japan (in Japanese).
[edit] Music
Donna came out with her first album, Nobody Nowhere (same title as her first book) in 1999 which she made with well known British film/TV music composer/arranger/producer, Paul Farrer, two tracks from which (Sometimes and Beyond The When feature in the TBS hit international TV series Things You Taught Me starring Rie Tomosaka and Takaya Kamikawa. Another track from this first album, Enemy Lines, made it into the top 50 jazz tracks in American Idol Underground in 2006.
In 2005, she followed this album with a second, titled, Mutation which she made with an Australian music composer, producer and arranger named Akash.
Both albums feature music and lyrics by Donna herself with the second album also featuring spoken word poetry.
[edit] Art
Donna has become an accomplished painter and sculptor. A self-taught painter, she began painting in adulthood and took up casual sculpting classes in 1996 under Guy Woodford at Malvern Hills College, Malvern, UK. After attending her first two sculpture classes, with only four hours experience and no previous experience in sculpture, she produced a detailed, life sized nude, completing the work in a 16 hours (two hours a week for 8 weeks). As a result, the life sized bronze produced from it featured on Midlands Today evening news and local newspapers soon afterwards.
[edit] Consulting
As a qualified teacher and established author and public speaker, Donna launched a consultancy service for people on the autistic spectrum called Alternative Approaches to Autism Consultancy (AAAC) in 1997 which she originally ran from her home in the Malvern Hills, UK.
She did consulting work for the education department, the NHS, Social Services, residential care and disability services and worked directly with parents and adults on the autistic spectrum. The consultancy ran, in the UK until 2002 and in the five years it was running Donna worked with over 600 people on the autistic spectrum. This experience culminated in her being invited to join the Medical Research Council's review into the causes of autism in 2002, where she was elected to the lay-person's panel.
In 2002, she moved, with her husband Chris Samuel, to Australia and began accepting consulting work in Australia. In 2006, after developing in the fields of art and screenwriting, she moved the consulting service to an on-line consulting service in order to have more time to dedicate to the arts.
[edit] Marriage
On December 9, 2000, she married Chris Samuel (born 1969 in Cardiff, Wales), while living in England. In late 2002 they moved back to her native Australia. He helped Donna create the auties.org website, the world's first international listing site for people on the autistic spectrum seeking to work towards self employment. Donna writes about him in her book Everyday Heaven.
[edit] External links
- donnawilliams.net - featuring some of Donna's music, paintings and sculptures and featuring information about film rights to her first screenplay.
- blog.donnawilliams.net - Donna's blog.
- nobodynowhere.com - the website for the book Nobody Nowhere.
- auties.org - a portal for self-employment for Auties that Donna is involved with.
- [1] - Internet Movie Database listing for Donna Williams
- [2] - TBS hit international TV series Things You Taught Me
- [3] - site with information about German documentary
- [4] - library with the Connie Chung documentary
- [5] - NHK TV website.
- [6] - site for Jamie Trevill, editor of Jam Jar.
- [7] - site for Vanguard Gallery, featuring solo show of paintings and sculptures by Donna Williams and full artist CV.
