Meme McDonald
{{Short description|Australian children's author and theatre director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2021}}
Meme McDonald (19 July 1954 – 23 December 2017) was an Australian writer, artistic director and advocate for Indigenous reconciliation.
Early life and education
McDonald was born on 19 July 1954 in St George, Queensland. Living on the land, she was taught by her mother until age eight, when she was sent away to boarding school. She later attended the Victorian College of Arts, where she studied dramatic art. She also held a BA from the University of Queensland and an MA from the University of Melbourne.{{Cite web|last=Lovell|first=Grace|date=2018-03-02|title=Meme McDonald, writer, director and creative spirit|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/meme-mcdonald-writer-director-and-creative-spirit-20180302-h0wwer.html|access-date=2021-03-19|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en}}
Career
After graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts, McDonald and others founded WEST Theatre Company. She was artistic director there from 1979 to 1986.
McDonald died on 23 December 2017 at Spring Hill, Victoria.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2018-01-25|title=Vale Meme McDonald|url=https://creative.vic.gov.au/news/2018/vale-meme-mcdonald|access-date=2021-03-19|website=Creative Victoria|language=en}}
Awards and recognition
Three of the books she co-authored with Boori Monty Pryor won awards:
- My Girragundji won the 1999 Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers.{{Cite web|last=|title=Meme McDonald|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A28750|access-date=2021-03-19|website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories|language=en}}
- The Binna Binna Man won Book of the Year, as well as the Ethnic Affairs Commission award and Ethel Turner Prize for young people's literature at the 2000 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.
- Njunjul the Sun won the Prize for Young Adult Fiction at the 2002 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.{{Cite web|title=Prize for Young Adult Fiction, Premier's Literary Awards, State Library of Victoria|url=http://www2.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/pla/yaprize/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329105810/http://www2.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/pla/yaprize/index.html|archive-date=2016-03-29|access-date=2021-03-19|website=www2.slv.vic.gov.au}}
In 2012 McDonald received the Australia Council Ros Bower Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development.{{Cite web|title=Australia Council Awards|url=https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/events/australia-council-awards/australia-council-awards-alumni/|access-date=2021-03-19|website=Australia Council}}
Works
- The Way of the Birds: A child and curlew travel across the world, 1996
- Maybe Tomorrow, with Boori Monty Pryor, 1998
- Girragundji Trilogy
- My Girragundji, with Boori Monty Pryor, 1998
- The Binna Binna Man, with Boori Monty Pryor, 1999
- Njunjul the Sun, with Boori Monty Pryor, 2002
- Flytrap, with Boori Monty Pryor, 2002
- Sister Chick Flies the Way of the Birds, 2002
- Love Like Water, 2007
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Children's Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers}}
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Category:Victorian College of the Arts alumni
Category:University of Queensland alumni
Category:University of Melbourne alumni
Category:Australian theatre directors
Category:Australian women theatre directors
Category:20th-century Australian women writers