Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction, plays and poetry. She is the author of over fourteen books for children and adults, notably a short story collection entitled '' Foreign Soil'' (2014), and her 2016 memoir '' The Hate Race'', which she adapted for a stage production debuting in February 2024. Her poetry collections include ''Carrying the World'' (2016), ''How Decent Folk Behave'' (2021), ''It's the Sound of the Thing: 100 New Poems for Young People'' (2023) and ''Stuff I'm (NOT) Sorry For: 99 more poems for young people'' (2025). In 2023, Clarke was appointed the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

Early life and education

Maxine Beneba Clarke was born and raised in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of Kellyville. Her mother was an actress of Guyanese heritage and her father an academic of Jamaican descent, who migrated to Australia from England in 1976. She has said: "Cousins, aunts, and uncles of mine have settled all over the world: including in Germany, America, Switzerland, Australia, England, and Barbados. Mine is a complex migration history that spans four continents and many hundreds of years: a history that involves loss of land, loss of agency, loss of language, and loss, transformation, and reclamation of culture." Beneba Clarke attended school in Kellyville and

Baulkham Hills Baulkham Hills (;) is a suburb in the Hills District, New South Wales, Hills District of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located within north-west of the Sydney central business district mostly within the Loca ...

,Andrew Cattanach
"Maxine Beneba Clarke, author of Foreign Soil, answers Ten Terrifying Questions"
''Booktopia'', 30 April 2014. before going on to earn a Bachelor of Creative Arts and

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

(with majors in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

) from the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

. She moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Career

Clarke published a number of short works, before publishing a collection of short stories that focuses on the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

, called ''Foreign Soil'', in 2014. She went on to publish many more works of different genres, including poetry. She has been a contributor to ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since i ...

''. Her work is included in the 2019 anthology '' New Daughters of Africa'', edited by

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

. In December 2022 Clarke was announced as the

's inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence, named in honour of Australian poet

Peter Steele Peter Thomas Ratajczyk (January 4, 1962 – April 14, 2010), known professionally as Peter Steele, was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist and composer of the gothic metal band Type O Negative. Before forming Type O N ...

(1939–2012). The residency, which began in January 2023, was planned to last for a year; however, Clarke still holds the position in 2025. Clarke wrote a stage adaptation of ''The Hate Race'' for

Malthouse Theatre Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of The Malthouse building in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. In the 1980s it was known as the Playbox Theatre Company and was housed in the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne's CBD ...

in Melbourne, which debuted in February 2024. It is performed as a one-woman show by Zahra Newman, with sounds and music provided by musician Kuda Mapeza.

Recognition and awards

Clarke's collection of short stories '' Foreign Soil'' won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award, the 2015 Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Best Literary Fiction, and the 2015 Indie Book Award for Best Debut Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Stella Prize. Her memoir '' The Hate Race'' (2016) won the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award, and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for non-fiction and an ABIA for non-fiction. Her poetry collection ''Carrying The World'' won the 2017 Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry. Her picture book '' The Patchwork Bike'' (2016), illustrated by

artist Van Thanh Rudd, won the Crichton Award for Children's Book Illustration. In 2021, Clarke was voted the "People's Choice" for the triennial Melbourne Prize for Literature, for an outstanding body of work. Clarke has received several writing awards and fellowships, including: * 2013: Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize * 2013:

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

grant * 2014: Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship * 2015: Winner, Indie Book Award for Best Debut Fiction, for ''Foreign Soil'' * 2015: Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) – Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year (2015) * 2015: ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'' Best Young Novelist of the Year * 2017: Winner, Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, for ''Carrying the World'' * 2017: Winner, NSW Multicultural Award in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award, for ''The Hate Race'' * 2017: Honour Book, Crichton Award for Children's Book Illustration, for ''The Patchwork Bike'' (with Van Thanh Rudd) * 2019: Winner,

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The ''Boston Globe''–''Horn'' Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonficti ...

, Picture Book Award for ''The Patchwork Bike'', illustrated by

artist Van Thanh Rudd * 2021: Melbourne Prize for Literature, Civic Choice Award * 2021: Longlisted,

Kate Greenaway Medal The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...

, for ''When We Say Black Lives Matter'' * 2022: Appointed Peter Steele Poet in Residence; ongoing as of 2024 * 2024: Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) - Book of the Year for Younger Children (ages 7–12) for ''It's the Sound of the Thing.'' * 2024: Critics Award for Best Play for The Hate Race (a stage adaptation) - Time Out Melbourne Awards 2024 * 2025: Green Room Award nomination for Best New Australian Writing for The Hate Race (a stage adaptation)

Works

Clarke's works include:

As author

* ''Stuff I'm (NOT) Sorry For: 99 more poems for young people,'' a poetry collection (2025) * ''The Hate Race: a stage adaptation'' (2024) * ''We Know a Place'', a picture book illustrated by the author (2023) * ''It’s the Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for young people'', a poetry collection (2023). * 11 Words for Love, a picture book written by Randa Abdel-Fattah - as illustrator (2022). * ''How Decent Folk Behave'' (2021), a poetry collection * ''When We Say Black Lives Matter'' (2020), a picture book illustrated by the author *''Meet Taj at the Lighthouse'' (2020), an early reader chapter book in the ''Aussie Kids'' book series. * ''The Saturday Portraits'' (2019), a collection of creative non-fiction profiles published in ''

'' *''Fashionista'' (2019), a picture book illustrated by the author *''Wide Big World'' (2018), a picture book illustrated by Isobel Knowles *'' The Hate Race'' (2016), an autobiography *''Carrying The World'' (2016), a collection of poetry *'' The Patchwork Bike'' (2016), a picture book illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd *'' Foreign Soil'' (2014), a collection of short stories *''Nothing Here Needs Fixing'' (2013), a collection of poetry *''Gil Scott Heron is on Parole'' (2008), a collection of poetry

As editor

* ''Growing Up African in Australia'' (Black Inc., 2019) * ''The Best Australian Stories 2017'' (Black Inc., 2017)

As illustrator

* ''11 Words for Love'' (by Randa Abdel-Fattah, 2022)

References

External links

*
"The Stella Interview: Maxine Beneba Clarke"
16 March 2015. * Beejay Silcox
"Racism in Australia: Maxine Beneba Clarke writes from experience"
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'', 6 August 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Maxine Beneba Australian writers 1979 births Living people Australian Book Review people Australian people of Guyanese descent Australian people of Jamaican descent