Anna Funder

Anna Funder
Anna Funder, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, 2012
Anna Funder, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, 2012
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Melbourne, Australia
OccupationWriter
NationalityAustralian
EducationBA (Hons), LLB (Hons), MA, DCA (Creative Writing)
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
Years active2002—
Notable worksStasiland (2003), All That I Am (2011), Wifedom (2023)
Notable awardsMiles Franklin Award 2012, Samuel Johnson Prize 2004
PartnerCraig Allchin
ParentsDr Kate Funder, John Funder
Website
annafunder.com

Anna Funder (born 1966) is an Australian author. She is the author of Stasiland, All That I Am, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life and the novella The Girl With the Dogs.[1]

Anna’s novel Wifedom was a Sunday Times Bestseller and New York Times Notable Book of 2023.[2]

Life

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Education

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Funder attended primary school in Melbourne and Paris; and later Star of the Sea College, Melbourne, graduating as Dux in 1983.[3] She studied at the University of Melbourne and the Freie Universität of Berlin, and holds a BA (Hons) and an LLB (Hons). She also holds an MA from the University of Melbourne and a Doctor of Creative Arts degree from the University of Technology Sydney.

Funder speaks French and German fluently.[4]

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Funder worked for the Australian Government as an international lawyer in human rights, constitutional law and treaty negotiation, before turning to writing full-time in the late 1990s.[5]

Family

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She lived with her husband and three children in Brooklyn, New York, returning to Australia in 2015 after three and a half years.[6][7]


Stasiland

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Main article: Stasiland

Funder's first book Stasiland published in 2003 tells the stories of people who resisted the communist dictatorship of East Germany, and of people who worked for its secret police, the Stasi. Stasiland has been translated into 16 languages.[8]

Stasiland won the 2004 Samuel Johnson Prize and was also the finalist for the Age Book of the Year Awards, Guardian First Book Award, Queensland Premier's Literary Award, Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature (Innovation in Writing), Index Freedom of Expression Awards and the W.H. Heinemann Award.[citation needed]

All That I Am

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Main article: All That I Am (novel)

Funder's 2012 novel All That I Am tells the previously untold story of four German-Jewish anti-Hitler activists forced to flee to London. There, they continued the dangerous and illegal work of smuggling documents out of Goering's office, and giving them to Winston Churchill (a backbencher at the time) to try to alert the world to Hitler's plans for war. In 1935 two of them were found dead from poison in mysterious circumstances in a locked room in Bloomsbury. The book was called "superb" by The Spectator, "strong and impressively humane" by the Times Literary Supplement), "a beautiful ensemble novel of Graham Green’esque proportions" by Weekendavisen and "an essential novel" by Colum McCann.[9][failed verification]

The novel was BBC Book of the Week and Book at Bedtime in the UK, and The Times (London) Book of the Month for May 2012.[10]

Awards received

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Awards nominated

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Writing

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Anna Funder's essays, feature articles and columns have appeared in numerous publications, such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Best Australian Essays, The Monthly[13] Ny Tid, and have been selected for Best Australian Essays. Her feature Secret History which appeared in The Guardian and in Good Weekend about the files from the Nazi death camps held in obscurity by German authorities won the 2007 ASA Maunder Award for Journalism.[14]

Human rights activities

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Funder is an ambassador for the Norwegian-based International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN).[15] ICORN is a global network of cities offering safe havens for persecuted writers. She is a member of the Advisory Panel of the Australian Privacy Foundation.[16]

Funder is a member of the Folio Prize Academy and PEN International, in both the Australian and US chapters. In 2007 she was selected to deliver a PEN 3 Writers Lecture.[17]

Public appearances and named lectures

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She has toured as a public speaker, and is a former German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Australia Council for the Arts, NSW Writing and Rockefeller Foundation fellow. Funder has delivered numerous named lectures, including:

Awards and recognition

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List of literary awards:[citation needed]

List of literary award nominations:[citation needed]

  • The Age Book of the Year Awards
  • The Guardian First Book Award
  • Queensland Premier's Literary Award
  • Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature (Innovation in Writing)
  • Index Freedom of Expression Awards
  • W. H. Heinemann Award
  • IMPAC Award
  • Commonwealth Book Prize
  • The Prime Minister's Literary Award
  • ALS Gold Medal
  • Adelaide Festival Fiction Prize
  • Victorian Premiers Literary Award
  • The Australian Society of Authors Asher Literary Award
  • Nonfiction Indie Book Award, 2024[22]
  • Women's Prize for Non-Fiction 2024 for Wifedom[23]
  • Nib Literary Award, 2024 for Wifedom[24]

Fellowships:

Other recognition:

Bibliography

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  • Funder, Anna (2003). Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin Wall. London: Granta. ISBN 978-1-86207-655-6. OCLC 55891480.
  • All That I Am. London: Penguin. 2011. ISBN 978-1-926428-33-8.
  • The Girl with the Dogs. Australia: Penguin. 2015. ISBN 978-0-14357-350-0.
  • Wifedom – Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life. Hamish Hamilton. 2023. ISBN 9780143787112; about Eileen Blair, George Orwell's first wife. [28][29][30]

References

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  1. ^ "2004 The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize)". Baillie Gifford Prize. 2004. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  2. ^ "100 Notable Books of 2023". NY Times. 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  3. ^ "Dux of the College". Starmelb.catholic.edu.au. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Meet the Panellists of Critical Mass – 4.00pm – 4.30pm Sundays on ABC TV". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Anna Funder – About". Annafunder.com. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Free Agent". The Monthly. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Anna Funder on life in the US: 'I underestimated what a radically different culture it has'". The Guardian. 29 September 2015.
  8. ^ Kennan, ByCatherine (3 September 2011). "Celebrating courage". Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Anna Funder". Annafunder.com. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  10. ^ Billen, Andrew (12 May 2012). "Book Club, May 2012". The Times. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  11. ^ a b "2012 Winner: Anna Funder", Miles Franklin Literary Award
  12. ^ 2012 Barbara Jefferis Award
  13. ^ "Results for: anna funder". The Monthly. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  14. ^ "Secret history". the Guardian. 15 June 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  15. ^ "ICORN international cities of refuge network". Icorn.org. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  16. ^ "Advisory Panel". Australian Privacy Foundation. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  17. ^ "Anna Funder on courage (p2): Sydney PEN 3 Voices Project". YouTube. 2 May 2013. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  18. ^ "Hamsters with Plasmas" (PDF). Libertyvictoria.org. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  19. ^ "Watch Anna Funder on courage: Sydney PEN 3 Voices Project – SlowTV Episodes – How To Videos – Blip". Blip.tv. 18 November 2008. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  20. ^ "Dymphna Clark Lecture by Anna Funder – Events at The University of Melbourne". Events.unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  21. ^ "Australian Book Industry Awards Winners 2024". ABIA Awards. 9 May 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  22. ^ "Indie Book Awards 2024 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  23. ^ Creamer, Ella (15 February 2024). "Guardian writer and Observer critic longlisted for inaugural Women's prize for nonfiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  24. ^ "Nib Literary Award 2024 finalists announced". Books+Publishing. 18 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  25. ^ "Literature assessment meeting report – December 2011". Australia Council for the Arts. December 2011. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  26. ^ "Sydney's Top 100 Most Influential People". The Sydney Morning Herald – The Sydney Magazine. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  27. ^ "Women of Style – Women of Style Winners 2013". InStyle. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  28. ^ Bakewell, Sarah (26 August 2023). "One Biography Questions Orwell's Image, and Another Brings His First Wife Into Focus". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  29. ^ Tribune, Chris Hewitt Star (16 August 2023). "Review: I loved 'Wifedom' but it will make you hate George Orwell". Star Tribune. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  30. ^ Merritt, Stephanie (13 August 2023). "Wifedom by Anna Funder review – Mrs Orwell comes up for air". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
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