Sophie Cunningham is an Australian writer and editor based in
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 ...
. She is the current Chair of the Board of the
Australian Society of Authors
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...
, the national peak body representing Australian authors.
Penguin
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...
for two years and Trade Publisher at
Allen & Unwin
George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...
for ten years; there she was known for commissioning and editing innovative fiction and non-fiction. At McPhee Gribble the books she worked on included ''I Was a Teenage Fascist'' by David Greason, ''Glad All Over: The Countdown Years 1974–1987'' by Peter Wilmoth and ''
Holding the Man
''Holding the Man'' is a 1995 memoir by Australian writer, actor, and activist Timothy Conigrave. It tells of his 15-year love affair with John Caleo, which started when they met in the mid-1970s at Xavier College, an all-boys Jesuit Cathol ...
'' by
Timothy Conigrave
Tim Conigrave (19 November 1959 – 18 October 1994) was an Australian actor, activist and author of the internationally acclaimed memoir, ''Holding the Man.''
Education and career
Conigrave was born in Melbourne, and attended the Jesuit-run Xav ...
.
At Allen & Unwin she published Mark Davis's ''Gangland: Cultural Elites and the New Generationalism''.
Author
In 2004 her own first novel, ''Geography'', was published. In 2005 she was an Asialink resident in Sri Lanka, which provided research material for her novel ''Bird'', which follows the life of a singer-actress who became a Buddhist nun.
Her non-fiction book ''Melbourne'' was published in 2011. Part memoir, part history, it is a portrait of the city as experienced through her own memories over the course of a year. In 2012 it was longlisted for the National Biography Award. It was re-issued in November 2020 with a new cover and introduction.
''Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy'' was published by Text Publishing in 2014 and longlisted for the Walkley Award; Shortlisted for the Nita Kibble Award, the NIB Waverley Library Literary Award, University of Southern Queensland History Book Award and the Northern Territory History Award.
''City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the need for a Forest'', also Text Publishing was published in 2019. Her first book for children, ''Tippy and Jellybean – The True Story of a Brave Koala who Saved her Baby from a Bushfire'', was illustrated by Anil Tortop and published by Allen and Unwin in 2020, and her second, ''Flipper and Finnegan — The True Story of How Tiny Jumpers Saved Little Penguins'' in 2022.
Her novel ''This Devastating Fever'' was published in September 2022.
Cunningham has also written works of journalism, including travel writing, cultural analysis, and writing on Buddhism and television. From 2002 to 2005, she wrote the Couch Life column for the television section of ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
''.
Editor
In 2008 Cunningham became the editor of ''
Meanjin
''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisbane ...
'' and aimed to make the literary magazine "lighter, more fun, but I don't mean lightweight." She also aimed to establish a younger audience for the magazine.
During her time as editor, Cunningham significantly expanded the magazine's online presence and launched several successful public events in Melbourne and Sydney (notably Meanland, in collaboration with
Jeff Sparrow
Jeff Sparrow (born 1969) is an Australian left-wing writer, editor and former socialist activist based in Melbourne, Victoria.Overland'') to lead public debate on issues around digital publishing.
In 2010 she resigned, claiming she had been locked out of discussions about the publication's future and believed its owner,
Melbourne University Press
Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne.
History
MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...
, intended to cease publishing the print edition. "I was not formally consulted once," she told ''
Crikey
Crikey is an Australian electronic magazine comprising a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. Crikey was described by the former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular website in Parliament House" in '' T ...
''. "I do know there was a sense – expressed by MUP – that I was not working with MUP closely enough and was being too independent. I had understood my task to be to keep ''Meanjins separate identity."
Although there was speculation ''Meanjin'' would move to an online-only format, MUP chairman
Alan Kohler
Alan Robert Kohler (born 26 April 1952) is an Australian financial journalist and newspaper editor. He currently writes for his own online financial publication, ''The Constant Investor''.
Career
In 1969, Kohler began as a cadet on ''The Aust ...
denied this was the case.
Stella Prize
In 2011 Cunningham was part of a group of 11 Australian women writers, editors, publishers and booksellers who became concerned about the poor representation of books by women in Australia's top literary prize, the
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1 ...
. In response, they established the
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 ...
(named after Stella Miles Franklin), a $50,000 annual award for writing by Australian women in all genres, similar to the UK's
Orange Prize
The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...
.
"After a rapid acceleration in women's rights in the '70s and '80s, things have started to go backwards," Cunningham said in a keynote address at the 2011 Melbourne Writers' Festival. "Women continue to be marginalised in Australian culture and, the arts sector – which likes to pride itself on its liberal values – is, in fact, complacent. Women are much less likely to win literary awards, to write reviews of books, or have their books reviewed. This, despite the fact they write about half the books published."
Awards and recognition
Cunningham was made a
Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
(AM) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of her "significant service to literature as an author, editor and role model".
She has received the following awards for her work:
* ''City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest Melbourne'' 2019 longlisted 'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature
* 'Staying with the Trouble' essay winner of 2015
Calibre Prize
The Calibre Essay Prize is an annual ''Australian Book Review'' essay-writing award. The prize, first awarded in 2007, is worth AU$7,500 and is deemed 'the nation's premier essay-writing competition' and 'Australia’s leading award for an origina ...
* ''Warning'' 2015 winner 'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature – The Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize and University of Southern Queensland History Book Award and the Northern Territory History Award
* ''This Devastating Fever'' was shortlisted for the 2023 Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction
Personal life
Cunningham lives in Melbourne with her wife Virginia Murdoch. She is the daughter of deceased literary scholar and critic Peter Nicholls.
Bibliography
Books
*''Geography'' (Text, 2004),
*''Bird'' (Text, 2008),
*''Melbourne'' (UNSW Press, 2011),
*''Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy'' (Text, 2014),
*''City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest'' (Text, 2019)
*''Tippy and Jellybean – The True Story of a Brave Koala who Saved her Baby from a Bushfire'' (Text, 2020)
*''Fire, Flood, Plague: Australian Writers Respond to 2020'', Edited by Sophie Cunningham (Penguin Random House, 2020),
*''Wonder – 175 Years of the Royal Botanic Gardens'' ''Written by Sophie Cunningham and Peter Wilmoth with photographs by Leigh Henningham'' (Hardie Grant, 2021)
*''Flipper and Finnegan – The True Story of How Tiny Jumpers Saved Little Penguins'' (Albert Street Books, 2022)
*''This Devastating Fever'' (Ultimo Press, 2022),