Vivienne Cleven (born 1968) is an Indigenous Australian fiction author and writer of the

Kamilaroi The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

people. Her writing includes the novels ''Bitin’ Back'' and ''Her Sister’s Eye''.

Early life

Born in 1968 in

Surat, Queensland Surat is a rural town and locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality had a population of 407 people. Geography The town of Surat is on the Balonne River, approximately south of Roma on the Carnarvon Highway ...

, Cleven grew up in the homeland of her Aboriginal heritage (

Nation). Leaving school at thirteen, she worked with her father as a jillaroo: building fences, mustering cattle, and working various jobs on stations throughout Queensland and New South Wales.

Writing career

In 2000, with the manuscript ''Just Call Me Jean'', Cleven entered and won the David Unaipon Award for unpublished Indigenous writers. Retitled and published the following year, ''Bitin’ Back'' was shortlisted in the 2002 Courier-Mail Book of the Year Award and in the 2002 South Australian Premier’s Award for Fiction. Cleven adapted ''Bitin’ Back'' into a playscript in 2005 which was staged by Brisbane’s Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Theatre Company. ''Her Sister’s Eye'' was published in 2002, and was chosen in the 2003 People’s Choice shortlist of One Book One Brisbane. In 2004, ''Her Sister’s Eye'' won the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Indigenous Writing. In 2006, Cleven won the

Kate Challis RAKA Award The Kate Challis RAKA Award is an arts award worth , awarded annually by the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia to Indigenous Australian creative artists. It is awarded in a five-year cycle, each year in a different area of the arts: ...

for both ''Bitin' Back'' and ''Her Sister's Eye''. Cleven’s writing is included in ''Fresh Cuttings'', the first anthology of UQP Black Australian Writing, published in 2003, and the collection ''Contemporary Indigenous Plays'' in 2007. In 2017, Cleven penned a column for the journal ''Lesbians on the Loose'', entitled, “Dyketopia: The Internet's most popular cyberspace precinct has plenty going on for lesbians.”

Themes

Cleven’s works delve into themes of

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

expression,

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

and

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

, connection to land, and

racial prejudice Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

in a

postcolonial Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...

Australian context. Both ''Bitin' Back'' and ''Her Sister's Eye'' critically forefront the Indigenous woman's experience in situations where their race and gender are seminal to their stories. ''Her Sister's Eye'' is considered part of the modern wave of

gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

Published works

* ''Bitin' Back'', 2001 * "Writing Bitin’ Back." ''Writing Queensland'', no. 96, 2001 *''Her Sister’s Eye,'' 2002 * "Bitin’ Back." ''Contemporary Indigenous Plays'', 2007 * "Dyketopia: The Internet's most popular cyberspace precinct has plenty going on for lesbians.” ''Lesbians on the Loose'', vol. 18, no. 11, 2007

Awards

''Bitin’ Back'' (2000): * Winner of the

David Unaipon David Ngunaitponi (28 September 1872 – 7 February 1967), known as David Unaipon, was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Ngarrindjeri people. He was a preacher, inventor and author. Unaipon's contribution to Australian society helped to bre ...

Award, 2000 * Shortlisted for the

Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

Book of the Year Award, 2002 * Shortlisted for the South Australian Premier's Awards for Fiction, 2002 * Winner of the

, 2006 ''Her Sister’s Eye'' (2002): * People's Choice shortlist of One Book One Brisbane, 2003 * Winner of the Kate Challis RAKA Award, 2006 * Winner of the

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

Prize for Indigenous Writing, 2004

References

External links

Photo of Vivienne Cleven
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleven, Vivienne Australian women novelists Australian women dramatists and playwrights Indigenous Australian writers 1968 births Living people People from South West Queensland Australian LGBT novelists Australian LGBT dramatists and playwrights Lesbian novelists Lesbian dramatists and playwrights