Wikipedia

Tony Birch

Tony Birch FAHA (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 University in Melbourne in June 2015.[1]

Tony Birch
Bornc.1957 (age 68–69)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
OccupationAuthor, academic
LanguageEnglish
EducationUniversity of Melbourne (PhD, 2003)
Years active1989–present
Notable awardsPatrick White Award

In 2017, he became the first Indigenous writer to win the Patrick White Award.[2] His 2019 novel The White Girl won the 2020 Indigenous Writers' Prize of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.[3]

Early life

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Birch's maternal great-grandfather was an Afghani who migrated to Australia in 1890, who had to get exemption from the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 to take his daughter to the Punjab to meet his family. He also has Barbadian convict (James "Prince" Moodie, transported to Tasmania for 14 years for "disobedience") and Aboriginal heritage.[4]

Birch was born around 1957[4] and grew up around Fitzroy, a working-class suburb of Melbourne then considered a slum.[5] After being expelled from school for the second time, he left school aged 15 and became a telegram boy.[4]

Education

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After spending a decade as a firefighter, Birch attended the University of Melbourne as a mature student when he was 30 years old.[4] He was the first Aboriginal student to graduate with a degree in history from the University of Melbourne, and the first to receive a Master of Arts in Creative Writing.[citation needed]

In 2004 he was awarded the University of Melbourne Chancellor's Medal for the best PhD in Humanities and Creative Arts for his 2003 thesis "'Framing Fitzroy': contesting and (de)constructing place and identity in a Melbourne suburb".[4][6][7]

Career

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He taught Aboriginal history for several years before switching to writing.[citation needed] Birch also worked as a senior curator for the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum.[8]

Birch has appeared on ABC radio on shows such as Conversations,[9] Life Matters[10] and RN Afternoons.[11]

In 2015 he became the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne.[1][4] His work involves academic research, creative writing projects, student mentoring, lecturing and community engagement.[1]

In 2019 he published the novel The White Girl.[12][4]

Birch was appointed to the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne in December 2022.[13]

Activism

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Birch is active in a variety of political and social movements, including climate justice, refugee issues and Indigenous issues. His novels integrate themes affecting Indigenous people, such as colonial oppression, dispossession, the Stolen Generations, and generational violence.[4] He donates a portion of profits and prize money he receives to Seed Mob, an Indigenous youth organisation dedicated to climate justice.[14][2]

Bibliography

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Novels

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

Short story collections

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Poetry

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Anthology contributions

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Selected book reviews

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Year Review article Work(s) reviewed
2021 Birch, Tony (January–February 2021). "Disher country". Australian Book Review (428). Disher, Garry (2020). Consolation. Text Publishing.

Awards and honours

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Year Nominated work Award Category Result Ref.
2006 Shadowboxing Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award Shortlisted [citation needed]
2011 Kate Challis RAKA Award Commended [15]
Blood Fellowship of Australian Writers Victoria Inc. National Literary Awards Christina Stead Award Highly commended [16]
2012 Melbourne Prize for Literature Best Writing Finalist [17]
Civic Choice Award Winner [18]
Miles Franklin Award Shortlisted [19]
2015 Victoria University Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship Recipient [1]
2014 The Promise Queensland Literary Awards Steele Rudd Award Shortlisted [20]
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writing [21]
2016 Ghost River Miles Franklin Award Longlisted [22]
2017 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writing Winner [23]
Patrick White Award Winner [2]
2019 Common People Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writing Shortlisted [24]
2020 The White Girl Miles Franklin Award [25]
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writer Winner [3]
2022 Dark as Last Night Christina Stead Prize for Fiction [26]
Prime Minister's Literary Awards Fiction Shortlisted [27]
Queensland Literary Awards Steele Rudd Award Winner [28]
2023 Royal Society of Literature International Writer Recipient [29]
2024 Women & Children The Age Book of the Year Awards Fiction Winner [30]
ARA Historical Novel Prize Adult Shortlisted [31]
Australian Academy of the Humanities Fellow Elected [32]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 "Tony Birch joins VU as research fellow". Victoria University. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Steger, Jason (15 November 2017). "Tony Birch wins the Patrick White Award". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 Evans, Kate Evans (26 April 2020). "Novel celebrating Wiradjuri language wins Book of the Year at major literary awards". ABC News. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Daley, Paul (7 June 2019). "Tony Birch on The White Girl: 'No Aboriginal person I know is intact'". The Guardian. Books. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "Tony Birch". ABC Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  6. ↑ Birch, Tony (24 April 2024). "Counter-narratives from the colonial archive: Tony Birch on the writing of Kim Scott". The Conversation. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  7. ↑ "Past winners". Graduate Research Hub. University of Melbourne. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Books by Tony Birch from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia". Australian Authors & their Books. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  9. ↑ Fidler, Richard; Kanowski, Sarah (17 March 2026). "Encore: Tony Birch — op shop fever and old Fitzroy". ABC listen. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  10. ↑ "Meet Tony Birch". ABC RN. Life Matters. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  11. ↑ Green, Jonathan (4 July 2015). "The Year That Made Me: Tony Birch, 1969". ABC Radio National. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  12. ↑ Wyld, Karen (17 June 2019). "And Still the Birds Sing". Meanjin. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  13. ↑ Ling, Susanna (14 December 2022). "Tony Birch named third Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature". University of Melbourne. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Home". Seed. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  15. ↑ "Shadowboxing". National Library of Australia.
  16. ↑ "FAW 2011 Awards Program" (PDF). Fellowship of Australian Writers Victorian Branch. p. 3.
  17. ↑ "Melbourne Prize for Literature, Best Writing Award 2012 finalists announced". Books+Publishing. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  18. ↑ "Melbourne Prize for Literature 2012". Melbourne Prize Trust. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  19. ↑ "Miles Franklin Literary Award 2012 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  20. ↑ "Queensland Literary Awards 2014 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  21. ↑ "Lucashenko wins 2014 Vic Prem's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing". Books+Publishing. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  22. ↑ "Miles Franklin judges and history of recipients". Perpetual Limited. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  23. ↑ "Birch wins 2016 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing". Books+Publishing. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  24. ↑ "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2019 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  25. ↑ "Miles Franklin Literary Award 2020 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  26. ↑ Cain, Sian (16 May 2022). "'Unflinching': Villawood graphic novel wins book of the year at NSW premier's literary awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  27. ↑ "Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2022 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 7 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  28. ↑ Burke, Kelly (8 September 2022). "Queensland Literary awards: winners list reflects 'a moment of change for the nation'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  29. ↑ "RSL International Writers". Royal Society of Literature. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  30. ↑ Steger, Jason (8 May 2024). "Tony Birch wins Book of the Year for timely novel about one of Australia's great challenges". The Age. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
  31. ↑ "2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize Adult Category Shortlist". Historical Novel Society Australasia. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  32. ↑ Pressler, Abra (19 November 2024). "Academy announces 41 new Fellows". Australian Academy of the Humanities. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
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