Larissa Behrendt – a Eualeyai / Gamillaroi woman – is an award winning author and an award winning filmmaker. She is the author of several books and writes and directs for film and television. She is also a lawyer and an academic based at the University of Technology Sydney. She is the host of Speaking Out on ABC Radio.
Larissa Behrendt is Distinguished Professor and the Laureate Fellow at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. She has published numerous textbooks on Indigenous legal issues. She is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and a founding member of the Australian Academy of Law.
Larissa won the 2002 David Uniapon Award and a 2005 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for her novel Home. Her second novel, Legacy, won a Victorian Premiers Literary Award. Her most recent novel, After Story, won the 2022 Voss Literary prize and has been optioned by Jungle Media for development as a television series.
Larissa is an award winning filmmaker, having written and directed several feature documentary films including You Can Go Now, Araatika! Rise Up, Maralinga Tjarutka, After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed. She has written and directed for television, including the series, The First Inventors. She won the AACTA for Best Direction in Television Factual in 2020 for Maralinga Tjarutja and the 2018 Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Direction in a Feature Documentary for After the Apology. She is a member of the Australian Writers Guild and the Australian Directors Guild. For more on Larissa’s film work: www.lavarchproductions.com
Larissa was awarded the 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year award and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. She was awarded an Order of Australia (AO) in 2020 for her work in Indigenous education, the law and the arts. Larissa received the Human Rights Medal in 2021 from the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Larissa is the host of Speaking Out on ABC Radio.
Larissa is represented by Wanda Bergin of Wanda Bergin Manangement.
Featured Books
- After Story. UQP. 2021
- Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling UQP: 2016 (non-fiction)
- Indigenous Australia for Dummies (2nd edition). Wiley: 2021 (non-fiction)
- Australian Screen Classics: Rabbit Proof Fence. Currency Press: 2012 (non-fiction)
- Legacy. St Lucia: UQP. 2008 (fiction)
- Home. St Lucia: UQP. 2004. (fiction)
- Achieving Social Justice. Annandale: Federation Press, 2002. (non-fiction)
Featured Short Stories
- “Under Skin, In Blood”. Overland Literary Magazine, Vol. 203, Winter 2011.
- “The Space Between Us”. 10 Short Stories you must read in 2011. Australia Council: Surry Hills, 2011.
Awards
- Human Rights Medal – 2021
- Order of Australia (AO) – 2020 – for Indigenous education, the law, and the arts.
- AACTA Best Direction in Television Factual – 2020 – for Maralinga Tjarutja
- ADG Best Direction in a Feature Documentary – 2018 – for After the Apology
- AW Myer Indigenous Award – AFTRS – 2012
- NSW Australian of the Year – 2011
- NAIDOC Person of the Year – 2009
- Victorian Literary Award – Indigenous Writing – 2009
- Commonwealth Writers Prize – Best first novel Asia/Pacific – 2005
- Queensland Literary Award – David Uniapon Award – 2002
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Law/Bachelor of Jurisprudence (UNSW) 1992
- Master of Laws (Harvard Law School) 1994
- Doctorate of Laws (Harvard Law School) 1998
- Graduate Diploma in Screenwriting (AFTRS) 2012
- Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors 2013
- Graduate Diploma in Documentary (AFTRS) 2013
Professional Achievements and Associations
- Fellow, Australian Social Sciences Academy
- Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Law
- Member, Australian Writers Guild
- Member, Australian Directors Guild
- Member and Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors
