Clare Alice Wright, (born 14 May 1969) is an

American Australian American Australians are Australian citizens who are of American descent, including immigrants and residents who are descended from migrants from the United States of America and its territories. This includes people of European, African Amer ...

historian, author and broadcaster. She is a professor of history at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

, and was the winner of the 2014 Stella Prize. Wright has worked as a political speechwriter, university lecturer, historical consultant, and radio and television broadcaster and podcaster.

Early life and education

Wright was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1969. She migrated to Australia in 1974 with her mother. Wright holds a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree (with

Honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

) in history from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

(1991), a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

in public history from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

(1993) and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in Australian studies from the University of Melbourne (2002).

Career

From 2004 to 2009, she was an Australian Research Council postdoctoral research fellow at

. She was the executive officer of the History Council of Victoria from 2003 to 2004. Wright is the author of a number of books which garnered both critical and popular acclaim. Her second book, ''The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka'', took her ten years to research and write. It won the 2014 Stella Prize. In 2016, Wright won the Alice Literary Award, presented by the Society for Women Writers, for "distinguished and long-term contribution to literature by an Australian woman". In 2019, her book, ''You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World'', was shortlisted for the

Prime Minister's Literary Awards The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLA ...

University of Southern Queensland History Book Award, and longlisted for the CHASS Australia Book Prize (an annual prize awarded by the

Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

) Wright was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the

2020 Australia Day Honours The 2020 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2020 by the Governor General of Australia, David Hurley. The Australia ...

in recognition of her "service to literature, and to historical research." , Wright writes and presents ''Shooting the Past'', a history radio series and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

for ABC Radio National. Wright is the co-host of the La Trobe University podcas
Archive Fever
She is a former board director at the

Wheeler Centre The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pat ...

and a member of the expert advisory panel for the

Australian Republic Movement The Australian Republic Movement (ARM) is a non-party-partisan organisation campaigning for Australia to become a republic. ARM and its supporters have promoted various models of a republic including parliamentary republic and it is, again, revi ...

. Since 2014, Wright has been a principal research fellow at

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. In 2019, she was promoted to full professor. , Wright is ARC ( Australian Research Council) Future Fellow, History.

Works

* * * *

Personal life

She lives in Melbourne with her husband, furniture designer and craftsman Damien Wright, and their three children.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Clare 1969 births American emigrants to Australia Australian historians Australian women historians La Trobe University faculty Living people Monash University alumni Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia University of Melbourne alumni Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan Writers from Melbourne People educated at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School