In Your Suburb - Anita Heiss

Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of 25 books across genres. She is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central NSW, an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland. 

Her adult fiction includes Manhattan Dreaming, Paris Dreaming and Tiddas which she adapted for the stage. Her novel Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms was shortlisted for the QLD Literary Awards and longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Prize. Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Prize for Indigenous Writing, was shortlisted for the 2021 HNSA ARA Historical Novel (Adult Category) and longlisted for the 2022 Stella Prize.

In 2023, Anita released a children’s book Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) illustrated by Samantha Campbell, and became Publisher of her own imprint, Bundyi Publishing (Simon & Schuster).

In 2024 she released the historical novel Dirrayawadha (Rise Up).

Anita’s latest novel is Red Dust Running.

Megan McGrath has written for The New York Times, Overland, Griffith Review, and Meanjin, among others. She grew up on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), as the daughter of an oyster farmer. Now, she manages a commercial construction company in Brisbane. Her short story collection, All Hands, is published by Spineless Wonders.