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Tony Birch

Tony Birch (born c.1957) is an Aboriginal Australian author, academic and activist. He regularly appears on ABC local radio and Radio National shows and at writers’ festivals. He was head of the honours programme for creative writing at the University of Melbourne before becoming the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria UniversityinMelbourne in June 2015.

In 2017, he became the first Indigenous writer to win the Patrick White Award.

Background, early life and education[edit]

Birch's maternal great-grandfather was an Afghan who migrated to Australia in 1890, who had to get exemption from the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 to take his wife home to meet the family. He also has Barbadian convict (James "Prince" Moodie, transported to Tasmania for 14 years for "disobedience") and Aboriginal heritage.^[1]

Birch was born around 1957^[1] and has grown up around Fitzroy, a working-class suburb of Melbourne once considered a slum.^[2] After being expelled from school for the second time, he left school aged 15 and became a telegram boy on a bicycle.^[1]

Career[edit]

After spending a decade as a firefighter, Birch attended Melbourne university as a mature student when he was 30 years old. In 2003 he was awarded the Chancellor's Medal for the best PhD in Arts.^[1]

Birch has appeared on ABC radio on shows such as Conversations with Richard Fidler,^[2] Life Matters^[3] and RN Afternoons.^[4][5]

He became the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne in June 2015^[6] and as of June 2018^[update] is still a research fellow there.^[1] His work involves academic research, creative writing projects, student mentoring, lecturing and community engagement.^[6]

Birch was appointed Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne in December 2022.^[7]

Activism[edit]

Birch is politically active in the climate change and native title movements. His novels integrate themes affecting Indigenous people, such as colonial oppression, dispossession, the Stolen Generations, and generational violence.^[1] He donates a portion of any prize money to the Indigenous youth organisation dedicated to climate justice, Seed.^[8][9]

Bibliography[edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2022)

Novels[edit]

• —— (2011). Blood (1st ed.). University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702239274.
• —— (2015). Ghost River. ISBN 9780702253775.
• —— (2006). Shadowboxing. ISBN 9781921753909.
• —— (2019). The White Girl. ISBN 9780702260384.
• —— (2023). Women & Children. ISBN 9780702266270.

Short story collections[edit]

• —— (2009). Father's Day. ISBN 9780980517972.
• —— (2014). The Promise: Stories. ISBN 9780702252112.
• —— (2017). Common People. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702259838.
• —— (2021). Dark as Last Night. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702263170.

Poetry[edit]

• —— (2016). Broken Teeth. ISBN 9780980517972.
• —— (2021). Whisper Songs. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702263279.

Anthologies[edit]

• —— (2018). Anita Heiss (ed.). "Gathering Strength". Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia. Black Inc. ISBN 9781863959810.

Book reviews[edit]

Awards and honours[edit]

Literary

• Shadowboxing, shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award 2006
• Shadowboxing, commended, Kate Challis RAKA Award 2011
• Blood, highly commended FAW Christina Stead Award 2011
• Blood, finalist Melbourne Prize for Literature — Best Writing Award 2012
• Blood, winner Melbourne Prize for Literature — Civic Choice Award 2012
• Blood, shortlisted Miles Franklin Award 2012^[10]
• The Promise: Stories, shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Steele Rudd Award 2014
• The Promise: Stories, shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing 2014^[11]
• Ghost River, longlisted Miles Franklin Award 2016^[12]
• Ghost River, winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Indigenous Writing 2017^[13]
• Common People, shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Indigenous Writing 2019^[14]
• The White Girl, shortlisted, Miles Franklin Award 2020^[15]
• The White Girl, winner, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writers' Prize 2020^[16]
• Dark as Last Night, winner, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2022^[17]
• Dark as Last Night, shortlisted, Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction 2022^[18]
• Dark as Last Night, winner, Queensland Literary Awards — Steele Rudd Award 2022 ^[19]

Honors

• First recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University, Melbourne, June 2015^[6]
• Patrick White Award 2017 (first Indigenous writer to receive the award)^[9]

• Elected a Royal Society of Literature International Writer in 2023^[20]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Sovereign Storytelling: Tony Birch on inspiration, and the power of telling your own story, State Library of Queensland blog