Tony Birch


Tony Birch is an Aboriginal Australian author, academic and activist. He regularly appears on ABC local radio and Radio National shows and at writers’ festivals. He was head of the honours programme for creative writing at the University of Melbourne before becoming the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne in June 2015.
In 2017, he became the first Indigenous writer to win the Patrick White Award. His 2019 novel The White Girl won the 2020 Indigenous Writers' Prize in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.

Background, early life and education

Birch's maternal great-grandfather was an Afghan who migrated to Australia in 1890, who had to get exemption from the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 to take his wife home to meet the family. He also has Barbadian convict and Aboriginal heritage.
Birch was born around 1957 and has grown up around Fitzroy, a working-class suburb of Melbourne once considered a slum. After being expelled from school for the second time, he left school aged 15 and became a telegram boy on a bicycle.

Career

After spending a decade as a firefighter, Birch attended the University of Melbourne as a mature student when he was 30 years old. He was the first Aboriginal student to graduate with a degree in History from the University of Melbourne, and the first to receive an MA in Creative Writing. He taught Aboriginal history for several years before switching to Creative Writing. In 2003 he was awarded the Chancellor's Medal for the best PhD in Arts. During this period, Birch also worked as the Senior Indigenous Curator for Southeastern Australia at Museum Victoria.
Birch has appeared on ABC radio on shows such as Conversations with Richard Fidler, Life Matters and RN Afternoons.
In 2015 he became the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne. His work involves academic research, creative writing projects, student mentoring, lecturing and community engagement.
In 2019 he published The White Girl.
Birch was appointed to the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne in December 2022.

Activism

Birch is active in a variety of political and social movements, including climate justice, climate change, refugee-related issues and Indigenous issues. His novels integrate themes affecting Indigenous people, such as colonial oppression, dispossession, the Stolen Generations, and generational violence. He donates a portion of any prize money to the Indigenous youth organisation dedicated to climate justice, Seed.

Novels

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Short story collections

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Poetry

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Anthologies

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Awards and honours

Literary

Shadowboxing, shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award 2006Shadowboxing, commended, Kate Challis RAKA Award 2011Blood, highly commended FAW Christina Stead Award 2011 Blood, finalist Melbourne Prize for Literature — Best Writing Award 2012 Blood, winner Melbourne Prize for Literature — Civic Choice Award 2012Blood, shortlisted Miles Franklin Award 2012The Promise: Stories, shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Steele Rudd Award 2014The Promise: Stories, shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing 2014Ghost River, longlisted Miles Franklin Award 2016Ghost River, winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Indigenous Writing 2017

Other honours