The First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) is the peak advocacy body for

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. They consist of two distin ...

writers, storytellers and poets in Australia.

History

The seeds for the organisation were sown at the Guwanyi Indigenous Writers Festival in March 2011, although the idea had been discussed much earlier, at a 1993 writers' workshop in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Anita Heiss Anita Marianne Heiss (born 1968) is an Aboriginal Australian author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator. She is an advocate for Indigenous Australian literature and literacy, through her writing for adults and children and her memb ...

Jared Thomas Jared Thomas (born 1976) is an Australian author of children's fiction, playwright and museum curator. Several of his books have been shortlisted for awards, and he has been awarded three writing fellowships. In May 2018 he began a 12-month sec ...

, and

Kerry Reed-Gilbert Kerry Reed-Gilbert (24 October 1956 – 13 July 2019) was an Australian poet, author, collector, editor, educator, a champion of Indigenous writers and an Aboriginal rights activist. She was a Wiradjuri woman. Early life Born on 24 October 1956 ...

. In 2012, a working party established to work towards the goal, comprising Thomas, Reed-Gilbert,

Philip McLaren Philip McLaren (born 1943) is an Aboriginal Australian author and academic known for literary fiction, detective stories and thrillers. Biography McLaren is an Aboriginal Australian of the Kamilaroi people. Both of his parents, who have some S ...

Jackie Huggins Jacqueline Gail "Jackie" Huggins (born 19 August 1956) is an Aboriginal Australian author, historian, academic and advocate for the rights of Indigenous Australians. She is a Bidjara (Warrego River), Bidjara/Pitjara, Birri Gubba and Juru people ...

, Sam Watson Snr,

Jim Everett James Samuel Everett III (born January 3, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Rams. He played college football for the Purdue Boilermak ...

(aka puralia meenamatta, Tasmanian writer, playwright, and poet),

Alexis West Alexis may refer to: People Mononym * Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet * Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC * Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer * Alexis (comics) (1946–197 ...

(dancer, choreographer, performer, writer, filmmaker), John Harding (playwright),

Peter Minter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(poet and editor), Marcus Waters (Kamilaroi screenwriter and academic, and

Marie Munkara Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tro ...

(Darwin-based writer of

Rembarrnga The Rembarrnga people, also spelt Rembarunga and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language The Rembarrnga language Rembarrnga (Rembarunga) is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the ...

and Tiwi descent). First Nations Australia Writers Network was established in 2013, with Reed-Gilbert as the first chair. Cathy Craigie was a co-founder and became executive director of the organisation.

Description

FNAWN serves as an advocacy body and resources service for emerging and established Indigenous Australian writers, poets and storytellers, helping to develop skills and provide development opportunities, "to sustain and enhance First Nations Australians writing and storytelling". It is registered as a charitable organisation based in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, with all of its funding coming from government grants. , Jackie Huggins is patron and poet

Yvette Holt Yvette Henry Holt (born 1971) is an Aboriginal Australian poet, essayist, academic, researcher and comedian, of the Bidjara, Yiman and Wakaman nations of Queensland. She came to prominence with her first published collection of poetry, ''Anony ...

is chair. Board members are Jeanine Leane, Samantha Faulkner, John Harding,

Ali Cobby Eckermann Ali Cobby Eckermann (born 1963) is an Australian poet of Aboriginal Australian ancestry. She is a Yankunytjatjara woman born on Kaurna land in South Australia. Eckermann has written poetry collections, verse novels and a memoir, and has been sh ...

and Rachel Bin Salleh.

Activities and events

In May 2013, FNAWN organised its first national workshop, a three-day-event in

attended by 120 Indigenous writers, poets and storytellers, as well as non-Indigenous literary, agents, publishers and individuals. The second workshop, held in

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 2015, was an opportunity to demonstrate the work of its members and the success of the organisation, both within Australia and internationally. A third workshop was held in Canberra in August 2018. FNAWN was one of the main organisers of the first trip by Aboriginal writers to the US, to attend a

book fair A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

to showcase their work. It has hosted guests from Canada, New Zealand and the US at various events. In 2014, the FNAWN worked with

Australian Poetry Australian literature is the literature, written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Australia, Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western civilisation, Western history, Australia was ...

on the management of the Scanlon Prize for Indigenous Poetry. In September 2015, in a collaboration with

Poets House Poets House is a national literary center and poetry library based in New York City. It contains more than 70,000 volumes of poetry, and is free and open to the public. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, they temporarily suspended operations in Nov ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, a recording of six FNAWN members reading their work was presented at a special event, and recorded for posterity. Introduced by Craigie, the six readers were: Jeanine Leane, Dub Leffler,

Melissa Lucashenko Melissa Lucashenko is an Indigenous Australian writer of adult literary fiction and literary non-fiction, who has also written novels for teenagers. In 2013 at The Walkley Awards, she won the "Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) Award" for ...

Bruce Pascoe Bruce Pascoe (born 1947) is an Aboriginal Australian writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children's literature. As well as his own name, Pascoe has written under the pen names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass. Since August 2 ...

and

Ellen van Neerven Ellen van Neerven (born 1990) is an Aboriginal Australian author, educator and editor. They are queer and non-binary. Their first work of fiction, ''Heat and Light'' (2013), won several awards, and in 2019 Van Neerven won the Queensland Premier ...

. Submissions consisting of poems of up to 40 lines for a volume entitled ''FN COVID-19 Anthology 2021'' closed in December 2020. The project is overseen by FNAWN publisher, Yvette Holt, in association with

, and funded by the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.fnawn.com.au/ 2013 establishments in Australia Indigenous Australian literature Organisations based in Australia