Nadia Wheatley

Nadia Wheatley
Born 30 April 1949
Sydney, New South Wales
Occupation Writer
Known for Children's fiction, historical fiction, short stories, articles

Nadia Wheatley (born 30 April 1949) is an award winning Australian writer of children's fiction and non-fiction, adult non-fiction and biographies, and newspaper and journal articles. When she received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Sydney it was in recognition of 'her exceptional creative achievements in the field of children's and adult literature, her work as an historian and her contribution to our understanding of Indigenous issues, cultural diversity, equity and social justice and the environment through story'.[1]

Life

Nadia Wheatley was born in Sydney and brought up as a foster child,[2] spending most of her youth in the Strathfield area and attending Meriden School. She began an Arts Degree at the University of Sydney in 1966, intending to major in English, but she changed to History and graduated with Honours in 1970. She later graduated from Macquarie University with an MA Honours degree.

In 1975, Wheatley went to Greece to live, with her then boyfriend, poet Martin Johnston, son of Australian writers George Johnston and Charmian Clift.[3] It was here that she began to write seriously.[4] They lived on both Crete and Astros, and had a routine of writing six days a week. In 1977, they went to London via Yugoslavia, and over the next year they visited Ireland, England and Scotland, before going back to Greece, and then returning to Australia in 1978.[3] On her return to Australia, she lived in Newtown.

Career

Wheatley's first book was Five Times Dizzy.[4] Published in 1983, it was acclaimed as Australia's first multicultural book for children. [5]

She also wrote a biography of Charmian Clift (2002) which won that year's Premier's reading challenge at the New South Wales Premier's History Awards. In 2006, she was a judge for these awards. She was also, in 2006, the University of Canberra's May Gibbs Fellow.

Increasingly, Wheatley has become involved in programs which further social, cultural and environmental awareness, particularly in children. She and Ken Searle took part in the Australian Society of Authors funded mentorship program for Indigenous writers. The result of their involvement was Mary Malbunka's children's book When I was Little, Like You (2003, Allen & Unwin).[6]

"Going Bush" project

Going Bush
Author Nadia Wheatley
Illustrator Ken Searle
Country Australia
Language English
Genre Children's non-fiction
Publisher Allen and Unwin
Publication date
 March 2007
Media type Print (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".[7] 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".[7] The result was the book, Going Bush, which captures what the children learnt through exploring a section of urban bushland along Wolli Creek.[7][8]

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

Hans Christian Andersen Award

Selected bibliography

Children's

Adult

Scripts

Notes

  1. ↑ "University of Sydney Honorary Awards Nadia Wheatley". University of Sydney. University of Sydney. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Adelaide (1988) p. 202
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tranter (1993)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 AusLit (2007)
  5. ↑ "Nadia Wheatley". Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Diamond (2003)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Students "going bush" in the city (2007)
  8. ↑ Allen and Unwin Media Release for "Going Bush" (2007)

References