Dank, Debra
Debra Dank is Gudanji/Wakaja/Kalkadoon and grew on the Barkly Tablelands of the Queensland and Northern Territory borderlands. For almost 40 years she worked in various roles in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
She is particularly interested in how narrative is practiced in Aboriginal communities and why semiotics is critical to understanding the breadth of communicative mechanisms and functions in this practice, specifically how Aboriginal communicative function and form is impacted by Standard Australian English.Her first book, We come with this place, won an unprecedented four categories of the New South Wales Premiers Literary Awards in 2023 as well as the 2023 ALS Gold Medal and the 2023 Non-Fiction Book Award in the Queensland Literary Awards.
She has had a further two books, Terraglossia and Ankami, published in 2025 and is currently working with a graphic designer/artist to produce illustrations for two manuscripts for children’s literature
She is particularly interested in how narrative is practiced in Aboriginal communities and why semiotics is critical to understanding the breadth of communicative mechanisms and functions in this practice, specifically how Aboriginal communicative function and form is impacted by Standard Australian English.Her first book, We come with this place, won an unprecedented four categories of the New South Wales Premiers Literary Awards in 2023 as well as the 2023 ALS Gold Medal and the 2023 Non-Fiction Book Award in the Queensland Literary Awards.
She has had a further two books, Terraglossia and Ankami, published in 2025 and is currently working with a graphic designer/artist to produce illustrations for two manuscripts for children’s literature
Dank, Debra is appearing in the following events:
