Anita Heiss

The story of an urban-based, high-achieving Wiradyuri woman working to break down stereotypes and build bridges between black and white Australia. I'm Aboriginal. I'm just not the Aboriginal person a lot of people want or expect me to be. What does it mean to be Aboriginal? Why is Australia so obsessed with notions of identity? Anita Heiss, successful author and...

Childhood stories of family, country and belonging What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak...

Over 1,000 Japanese soldiers break out of the No.12 Prisoner of War compound on the fringes of Cowra. In the carnage, hundreds are killed, many are recaptured, and some take their own lives rather than suffer the humiliation of ongoing defeat. But one soldier, Hiroshi, manages to escape. At nearby Erambie Station, an Aboriginal mission, Banjo Williams, father of five...

A story about what it means to be a friend … Five women, best friends for decades, meet once a month to talk about books … and life, love, and the jagged bits in between. Dissecting each other’s lives seems the most natural thing in the world – and honesty, no matter how brutal, is something they treasure. Best friends...

‘There are books you encounter as an adult that you wish you could press into the hands of your younger self. Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray is one of those books – a novel that turns Australia’s long-mythologised settler history into a raw and resilient heartsong.’ – Guardian WINNER 2022 NSW PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD INDIGENOUS WRITER'S PRIZE 2022 ABIA SHORTLIST 2021 ARA HISTORICAL...

Powerful and moving, Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) celebrates the Wiradyuri heroes of the Great Flood of Gundagai in 1852, told through the eyes of a young girl who is rescued from the raging floodwaters by her father. 2024 CBCA Notable book Wagadhaany grew up near the Marrambidya Bila. She loved dancing in the rain and listening to her father, Yarri,...

Find out all this and much more in Kicking Goals, the story of Adam and Michael's friendship in their own words, as told to Anita Heiss. AFL legends Adam Goodes and Michael O'Loughlin are blood brothers and great mates. They are also two of the best footballers ever to play for the Sydney Swans. Between them, they played over 650...

A hilarious and heart-felt story of love, self-discovery and finding true happiness, from award-winning Wiradyuri author, Anita Heiss. Peta Tully thinks taking a man to Melbourne would be like taking a sandwich to a smorgasbord. That's why she is leaving him at home. Peta loves her life in Sydney. She has a great job, three deadly best friends – Alice,...

From award-winning Wiradyuri author, Anita Heiss, comes a fun, light-hearted and empowering story featuring a deadly Koori heroine who is forced to choose between her dream job and the man of her dreams. Lauren is a curator at the National Aboriginal Gallery in Canberra. She's good at her job, passionate about the arts, and focused on her work – that...

‘I am deadly, desirable and delicious!’ This is Alice's mantra as she hilariously negotiates her way through the rocky terrain of singledom. Alice Aigner is successful, independent and a confirmed serial dater—but at her ten-year school reunion she has a sudden change of heart. Bored rigid by her married, mortgaged and motherly former classmates, Alice decides to prove that a...

Shortlisted for the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards, The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award From the bestselling, prize-winning author of Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray comes another groundbreaking historical novel about resistance, resilience and love during the frontier wars. Miinaa was a young girl when the white ghosts first arrived. She remembers the day they raised a piece of cloth...

No one writes Aussie rom-com like Anita Heiss. Rachael Johns Matters of the heart have always made Annabelle run for the hills – literally. After a disastrous relationship effectively torched her personal and professional life in Sydney, Annabelle is back in Brisbane. She’s about to start her dream job launching and curating a First Nations gallery in the city, and...

Yirra's mum's sick of vacuuming up fur balls, the neighbours are fed up with having their undies nicked from the clothesline, and her step-dad just wants his slippers back. If Yirra doesn't find a dog-trainer soon, she'll have to give her beloved Demon to a new family - one who likes dogs who run and dig a lot. Bursting with...

Recovering from a bad break-up, Abbey travels with her two tiddas to Hawai'i where personal challenges, laughter and new love await. Paradise beckons in this heartwarming and contemporary novel from bestselling author Anita Heiss.Abbey’s ready for a holiday. Between her growing business, her recently failed relationship and her energetic grandkids, she needs to get away. So when her tiddas suggest...

Shortlisted for the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards, The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award Dirrayawadha is full of heart and hope, truth-telling and history – and shimmers with language too' Guardian 'A story from the past given vivid life for new understanding' Kate Grenville _______________________________________________ Bathurst, 1820s Miinaa was a young girl when the white ghosts first...

Libby is determined to stay on her no-man fast: no more romance, no more cheating men, no more heartbreak. But in the city of love, there is no escaping fate … A hilarious and heartfelt romantic comedy from bestselling Wiradyuri author, Anita Heiss. Libby has given up on romance. After all, she has her three best girlfriends and two cats...

Your Next Read is the series that will help kids fall in love with reading and reach for the next book – and the next, and the next! The series removes reading roadblocks and grows with kids as their reading confidence and reading interests develop. The engaging stories, carefully structured text and illustrations make reading accessible and enjoyable for all...

Age range 7 to 12 An insightful and humorous story of a young girl's determination to be who she wants to be. Karan rolls her eyes. 'What's this year's theme? Oh no, let me guess,' she looks into the distance, pretending to ponder the possibilities. Sarcastically she asks, 'Is it ... could it possibly be ... a princess party?' Teish...

I woke up this morning and I couldn't stop crying, cos this place is not my home, even though everyone says it is. When I was a little girl Mum would always hug me when I cried and tell me everything would be all right. Who's gunna hug me here? Mary lives with the Burkes, but they're not her real...