Mother Tongue: Writing Matriarchies

Authors

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  Anita Heiss

  Anita Heiss (Wiradyuri Nation) is an internationally published author of over 20 books across genres.
  
  Her best-selling novel Tiddas was adapted for the stage and premiered at the Brisbane Festival in 2022. Her novel Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Prize.
  Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Prize for Indigenous Writing, and was shortlisted for the 2021 HNSA ARA Historical Novel.
  
  Anita is an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland. She is also Publisher at Large for Bundyi Publishing, a First Nations imprint with Simon & Schuster Australia.
  
  Anita's curated events are:

  • Mother Tongue: Writing Matriarchies
  • Centring First Nations Knowledge
• 

  Judi Morison

  Judi Morison has Gamilaroi and Celtic heritage and lives gratefully on Gumbaynggirr Country. Secrets, her debut novel, in manuscript won the 2022 Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship and was published by Bundyi (Simon & Schuster) in 2025.
  
  Judi’s short fiction and poetry have been published in various literary anthologies and her historical novel manuscript, Crossing the Creek, was shortlisted for The Australian Fiction Prize 2025 and will be published by Bundyi in early 2027.
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  Tasma Walton

  Tasma is a proud Bunurong/Boonwurrung woman from the saltwater country of Melbourne and surrounding coastlines. As an award-winning actor, she has appeared in many well-recognised films and television series, including Mystery Road, Reckless, The Twelve, How To Please A Woman, Rake and Deadloch.
  
  As a writer, she has recently co-won the ARA Historical Novel prize for I Am Nannertgarrook, which was also shortlisted for the NIB Literary Award and long listed for the Indie Book Awards. Tasma’s first novel, Heartless, was nominated for an ABIA Award for General Fiction, and the first book in her children’s series Nerra: Deep Time Traveller was longlisted for the DANZ Children’s Book Award.
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  Inala Cooper

  Inala Cooper is a Yawuru woman based in Narrm/Melbourne. Inala has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Human Rights Law and has long been an advocate for Indigenous rights and access to education. Currently she is the Director of Murrup Barak at University of Melbourne and is a regular contributor on ABC News Breakfast (and The Drum).
  
  Inala is a director on a range of not-for-profit boards including State Library Victoria, and the Adam Briggs Foundation. She is the author of Marrul: Aboriginal Identity and the Fight for Rights, and a chapter in Dhoombak Goobgoowana, Vol 2. Voice. Inala appears a range of literary events including Stella Day Out, Sorrento Writers Festival, and Adelaide Writers Week.  

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