Maxine Beneba Clarke is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

writer of

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the tr ...

descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her collection of short stories ''

Foreign Soil Foreign Soil is a collection of short fiction by Maxine Beneba Clarke published in 2014 by Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book ...

'' won the 2013

Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award The Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award is a literary award for an unpublished manuscript. It can be entered by any author from the Australian State of Victoria that has not published a project based on fiction. The Award was establis ...

, the 2015 ABIA for Best Literary Fiction, the 2015 Indie Award for Best Debut Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2015

Stella Prize The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys W ...

. Her memoir ''The Hate Race'' (2016) won the

New South Wales Premier's Literary Award The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

, and her poetry collection ''Carrying The World'' won the 2017

Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry The Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an enumeration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies w ...

. Her picture book '' The Patchwork Bike'' (2016), illustrated by

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

artist

Van Thanh Rudd Van Thanh Rudd (born 1973), also known as Van Nishing, is an Australian artist and politician. Personal life Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland, to Vietnam veteran Malcolm Rudd and Tuoi. Rudd is the nephew of former Australian Prime Minister ...

, won the Crichton Award for Children's Book Illustration. Clarke is 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 ...

'', and is included in the 2019 anthology ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...

'', 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 youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Le ...

Biography

Maxine Beneba Clarke was born and raised in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

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 of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 30 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district within the local government area of The Hills Shire. Baulk ...

,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 A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

and

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...

from the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

. She moved to

Recognition

Clarke has received several writing awards and fellowships, including: *

Melbourne Prize for Literature The Melbourne Prize for Literature is an award given by the ''Melbourne Prize Trust'', which was founded by Simon Warrender in 2005. The trust grants awards on a rolling three-year basis for Urban Sculpture, Literature and Music, in that order. The ...

, Civic Choice Award (2021) *

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, Nonfiction, and P ...

, Picture Book Award for ''The Patchwork Bike'' (2019) *

(2017) *

, NSW Multicultural Award for ''The Hate Race'' (2017) * Crichton Award for Children's Book Illustration – Honour Book (2017) * Indie Award for Best Debut Fiction (2015) *

Australian Book Industry Awards The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association annually in Sydney "to celebrate the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Australian books to readers". ...

(ABIA) – Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year (2015) * ''

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

'' Best Young Novelist of the Year (2015) *

Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was set up in 2011 in memory of Hazel Rowley by her sister, Della Rowley and friends, in association with Writers Victoria Inc. The Fellowship was originally valued at AU$10,000, but was increased to AU$15,0 ...

(2014) *

Ada Cambridge Ada Cambridge (21 November 1844 – 19 July 1926), later known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian writer. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.Cato (1989) p. v Many of her nov ...

Poetry Prize (2013) * Australia Council Grants (2013)

Works

Clarke's works include: * ''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 interviews 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

*''

'' (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)Melissa Phillips
"Wide collection of voices challenges stereotype of African Australians"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 26 April 2019. * ''The Best Australian Stories 2017'' (Black Inc., 2017)

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 newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', 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