Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her collection of short stories ''

Foreign Soil Foreign Soil is a collection of short fiction by Maxine Beneba Clarke published in 2014 by Hachette. It won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award The Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award is a literary award for ...

'' won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award, the 2015 ABIA for Best Literary Fiction, the 2015 Indie Award for Best Debut Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2015

Stella Prize The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys W ...

. Her memoir ''The Hate Race'' (2016) won the

New South Wales Premier's Literary Award The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

, and her poetry collection ''Carrying The World'' won the 2017

Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry The Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an enumeration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies w ...

. Her picture book ''

The Patchwork Bike ''The Patchwork Bike'' is a 2016 children's book by Maxine Beneba Clarke and illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd. Plot A girl who lives at the edge of a "no-go desert" describes the titular bike that she and her brothers made out of found materials. ...

'' (2016), illustrated by

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 ...

artist

Van Thanh Rudd Van Thanh Rudd (born 1973), also known as Van Nishing, is an Australian artist and politician. Personal life Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland, to Vietnam veteran Malcolm Rudd and Tuoi. Rudd is the nephew of former Australian Prime Minister, ...

, won the Crichton Award for Children's Book Illustration. Clarke is a contributor to '' The Saturday Paper'', and is included in the 2019 anthology '' New Daughters of Africa'', edited by

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

Biography

Maxine Beneba Clarke was born and raised in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburb of Kellyville. Her mother was an actress of Guyanese heritage and her father an academic of Jamaican descent, who migrated to Australia from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1976. She has said: "Cousins, aunts, and uncles of mine have settled all over the world: including in Germany, America, Switzerland, Australia, England, and Barbados. Mine is a complex migration history that spans four continents and many hundreds of years: a history that involves loss of land, loss of agency, loss of language, and loss, transformation, and reclamation of culture." Beneba Clarke attended school in Kellyville and

Baulkham Hills Baulkham Hills is a suburb in the Hills District of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 30 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district within the local government area of The Hills Shire. Baulkh ...

,Andrew Cattanach
"Maxine Beneba Clarke, author of Foreign Soil, answers Ten Terrifying Questions"
''Booktopia'', 30 April 2014. before going on to earn a

Bachelor of Creative Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelo ...

and

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...

from the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

. She moved to

Recognition

Clarke has received several writing awards and fellowships, including: *

Melbourne Prize for Literature The Melbourne Prize for Literature is an award given by the ''Melbourne Prize Trust'', which was founded by Simon Warrender in 2005. The trust grants awards on a rolling three-year basis for Urban Sculpture, Literature and Music, in that order. The ...

, Civic Choice Award (2021) * Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, Picture Book Award for ''The Patchwork Bike'' (2019) *

(2017) *

, NSW Multicultural Award for ''The Hate Race'' (2017) * Crichton Award for Children's Book Illustration – Honour Book (2017) * Indie Award for Best Debut Fiction (2015) * Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) – Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year (2015) * ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' Best Young Novelist of the Year (2015) * Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship (2014) * Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize (2013) * Australia Council Grants (2013)

Works

Clarke's works include: * ''When We Say Black Lives Matter'' (2020), a picture book illustrated by the author *''Meet Taj at the Lighthouse'' (2020), an early reader chapter book in the ''Aussie Kids'' book series. * ''The Saturday Portraits'' (2019), a collection of interviews published in '' The Saturday Paper'' *''Fashionista'' (2019), a picture book illustrated by the author *''Wide Big World'' (2018), a picture book illustrated by Isobel Knowles *''The Hate Race'' (2016), an autobiography *''Carrying The World'' (2016), a collection of poetry *''

'' (2016), a picture book illustrated by

*''

'' (2014), a collection of short stories *''Nothing Here Needs Fixing'' (2013), a collection of poetry *''Gil Scott Heron is on Parole'' (2008), a collection of poetry As editor * ''Growing Up African in Australia'' (Black Inc., 2019)Melissa Phillips
"Wide collection of voices challenges stereotype of African Australians"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 26 April 2019. * ''The Best Australian Stories 2017'' (Black Inc., 2017)

References

External links

*
"The Stella Interview: Maxine Beneba Clarke"
16 March 2015. * Beejay Silcox
"Racism in Australia: Maxine Beneba Clarke writes from experience"
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', 6 August 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Maxine Beneba Australian writers 1979 births Living people Australian Book Review people Australian people of Guyanese descent Australian people of Jamaican descent