WHEATLEY, Nadia 1949-

PERSONAL: Born April 30, 1949, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Education: Sydney University, B.A. (with honors), 1970; Macquarie University, M.A. (with honors), 1976.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Barbara Mobbs, P.O. Box 126, Edgecliff, New South Wales 2027, Australia.

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: New South Wales Premier's Literary Award, 1985, for The House That Was Eureka; Honor List, International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), 1986, for Dancing in the Anzac Deli; Book of the Year Award, Australian Children's Book Council, YABBA (Young Australians Best Book Award), 1988, and Honor List, IBBY, 1990, all for My Place; Eve Pownell Award, 1988; APA Book Designer Award, 2001; New South Wales Premier's Young People's History Prize, 2002, for Papunya School Book of Country and History; New South Wales Premier's Australian History Prize, 2002, for The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift.

WRITINGS:

CHILDREN'S FICTION

Five Times Dizzy, illustrated by Neil Phillips, Oxford University Press (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1982.

Dancing in the Anzac Deli, illustrated by Waldemar Buczynski, Oxford University Press (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1984.

The House That Was Eureka, Viking Kestrel (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia), 1984.

My Place, illustrated by Donna Rawlins, Collins (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1987, Kane/Miller (Brooklyn, NY), 1992.

The Blooding, Viking Kestrel (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia), 1987.

Lucy in the Leap Year, illustrated by Ken Searle, Omnibus (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1993.

The Night Tolkien Died (short stories), Random House Australia (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1994.

The Greatest Treasure of Charlemagne the King, Scholastic Australia (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

Highway, illustrated by Andrew McLean, Omnibus (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1998.

Luke's Way of Looking, Hodder Headline Australia (Rydalmere, New South Wales, Australia), 1999, Kane/Miller (La Jolla, CA), 2001.

A Banner Bold: The Diary of Rosa Aarons, BallaratGoldfields, 1854, Scholastic Australia (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 2000.

EDITOR

Children and Family Problems: Books for Young Children, Australian Institute of Family Studies (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1988.

Adolescents and Family Problems: Books for YoungChildren, Australian Institute of Family Studies (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1988.

Charmian Clift, Trouble in Lotus Land, Angus & Robertson (North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia), 1990.

Charmian Clift, Being Alone with Oneself, HarperCollins (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1991.

Landmarks, Turton & Chambers (Victoria Park, Western Australia, Australia), 1991.

Charmian Clift, Charmian Clift Selected Essays, HarperCollins (Pymble, New South Wales, Australia), 2001.

OTHER

1 Is for One, illustrated by Helen Leitch, Oxford University Press (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1985, Mondo (Greenvale, NY), 1996.

(With Terry Larsen) Five Times Dizzy (television series), 1986.

Lucy in the Leap Year (play), produced by Theatre South, 1996.

Vigil (for young adults), Viking Australia (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia), 2001.

The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, HarperCollins (Pymble, New South Wales, Australia), 2001.

Papunya School Book of Country and History, illustrated by Ken Searle, Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Nadia Wheatley is an Australian writer who once said, "In my stories, I have tried to write for and about ordinary Australians." Wheatley spent five years living in Greece, and her first two books, Five Times Dizzy and Dancing in the Anzac Deli, are about a Greek family living in Sydney, Australia. In each, the protagonist, Mareka, must deal with the problems that arise between the Greek and Australian cultures.

Wheatley did post-graduate studies in Australian history, which she draws on in My Place, a story depicting the succession of children living in a house from 1788 through 1988. The book begins in 1988 and works its way backwards, finally ending with the Aborigine who first lived on the land. Roger Sutton, writing in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, remarked that My Place "has the admirable virtue of being just as much fun to read backwards as forwards," while School Library Journal critic Ellen Fader called My Place "a book that merits and rewards close scrutiny."

Wheatley again writes about Australian history in The House That Was Eureka. Set in 1981 and 1931, the book looks at joblessness and despair through the eyes of Evie and Noel, teenagers trying to deal with the rampant unemployment of their age group in 1981, and a family, Nobby, Lizzie, and Mick, dealing with the depression in 1931. A Junior Bookshelf reviewer wrote, "The impact of an accomplished and at times moving story will keep teenage readers engaged."

In Luke's Way of Looking, Luke is a student in a conservative boys school. He is an artist but is stuck with a teacher who cannot appreciate individuality in his students. The teacher, Mr. Barraclough, is structured to a repressive degree, but Luke is determined to keep his creativity alive. Eventually, his teacher can only stand by and watch as Luke creates beautiful works of art. Magpies reviewer Lyn Linning wrote, "Luke's Way of Looking illuminates the importance of recognising children's special talents [and] shows that it is possible for even a limited teacher to recognise exceptional talent."

Virginia Lowe wrote in Australian Book Review, "No course in Australian history, at whatever level, will ever be complete now without the Papunya School Book of Country and History. This is the first book to address the history of Australia completely from the point of view of its indigenous people." The school, near Alice Springs, Australia, commissioned Wheatley to write the text. The book covers significant events, such as the first telegraph, railroad, and airplane, as well as the introduction of missionaries and the violence of the region's past. However, the book also details the language roots, the culture, and the ways the Aborigines teach. "We learn by doing, copying, mimicking, acting, telling stories, doing ceremonies, listening to stories from country and from inside our hearts," Charlotte Phillips, the head of the Papunya Curriculum Project, was quoted as saying in the Australian Book Review article. In Southerly, Anita Heiss wrote, "Reading about the history of Australia has never been so interesting and enjoyable."

Wheatley is also the author and editor of a number of books about Charmian Clift, a writer and women's activist in Australia during the 1960s.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Australian Book Review, November, 1993, Stephen Matthews, review of Lucy in the Leap Year, pp. 63-64; August, 1995, Stephen Matthews, review of The Night Tolkien Died, p. 60; December, 1997, Linnett Hunter, review of The Greatest Treasure of Charlemagne the King, pp. 64-65; June, 1998, Linnet Hunter, review of Highway, pp. 43-44; October, 2001, Virginia Lowe, review of Papunya School of Country and History, pp. 61-62.

Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, July, 1990, Roger Sutton, review of My Place, p. 277.

Children's Literature Association Quarterly, winter, 1990, review of Five Times Dizzy and Dancing in the Anzac Deli, pp. 180-185.

Emergency Librarian, March, 1986, Anne Hazell, review of The House That Was Eureka, pp. 23-25; March-April, 1989, Anne Hazell, review of The Blooding, p. 27; March-April, 1995, Frances Kelly, review of The Night Tolkien Died, p. 20.

English Journal, November, 1986, Sheila Allen, review of Dancing in the Anzac Deli and Five Times Dizzy, p. 90.

Five Owls, March, 1990, review of My Place, pp. 60-61.

Growing Point, May, 1988, review of The Blooding, pp. 5039-5040.

Horn Book, July-August, 1992, Karen Jameyson, review of Landmarks, p. 497.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, September, 2001, review of Vigil, p. 83.

Junior Bookshelf, December, 1985, review of TheHouse That Was Eureka, p. 284; April, 1992, review of Landmarks, p. 83.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2001, review of Luke'sWay of Looking, p. 1302.

Magpies, September, 1993, review of Five Times Dizzy and The House That Was Eureka, p. 22; May, 1998, review of Highway, p. 31; September, 1999, Lyn Linning, review of Luke's Way of Looking, pp. 31-32.

Meanjin, March, 2002, Christina Hill, review of Charmian Clift: Selected Essays and The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, p. 70.

Publishers Weekly, November 5, 2001, review of Luke's Way of Looking, p. 68.

Reading Teacher, October, 1992, review of My Place, p. 146.

School Librarian, February, 1989, Elizabeth Finlayson, review of The Blooding, p. 32.

School Library Journal, August, 1990, Ellen Fader, review of My Place, p. 150; June, 2002, Ruth Semrau, review of Luke's Way of Looking, p. 115.

Southerly, summer, 2002, Anita Heiss, review of Papunya School Book of Country and History, p. 184.

Times Educational Supplement, November, 1991, review of Landmarks, p. 40.*