Alexis Wright

Biography

Alexis Wright is a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Her books include Grog War, a study of alcohol abuse in Tennant Creek, and the novels Plains of Promise (1997), and Carpentaria (2006), which won the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Victorian and Queensland Premiers’ Awards and the ALS Gold Medal, and was published in the US, UK, China, Italy, France, Spain and Poland. Her most recent novel, The Swan Book, was awarded the ALS Gold Medal for Fiction in 2014, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, the Stella Prize, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the Victorian Premier’s Indigenous Literature Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award.

Alexis Wright’s three novels constitute a unique contribution to Australian literature, infusing her explorations of Indigenous Australia with her own distinctive form of magical realism. The first, Plains of Promise (1997), was shortlisted for several awards and her second, Carpentaria (2006), had a major impact in Australia and abroad. €˜Inspired by all of the beauty that comes from having an ancient homeland that is deeply loved by those who guard it,’ Carpentaria (2006) demonstrates the author’s extraordinary skill in mixing humour, drama, traditional story and transcultural allusion. In her award-winning The Swan Book (2013), Wright continues to develop her distinctive narrative style, which promises to change the face of Australian fiction.