# Anna Rutherford
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{{Short description|Australian-born academic and publisher (1932–2001)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|11|27|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Mayfield, New South Wales](/source/Mayfield%2C_New_South_Wales), Australia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|2|21|1932|11|29|df=y}}
| death_place = [Sydney](/source/Sydney), Australia
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| occupation = Academic, publisher and editor
| known_for = Founder of ''Kunapipi: Journal of Postcolonial Writing & Culture'' and Dangaroo Press
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'''Anna Rutherford''' (27 November 1932 – 21 February 2001) was an Australian-born academic and publisher, who helped to establish the field of [post-colonial literature](/source/post-colonial_literature) in Europe.[{{cite book | author= | chapter=Preface: Remembering Anna Rutherford | editor-first=Merete |editor-last=Falck Borch | editor2=Eva Rask Knudsen | editor3=Martin Leer | editor4=Bruce Clunies Ross | title=Bodies and Voices: The Force-Field of Representation and Discourse in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies | location=Amsterdam; New York | publisher=Rodopi | year=2008 | pages=xi–xvi | isbn=9789401205351 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKWODwAAQBAJ&pg=PR11 }}]
==Biography==
Rutherford was born in Australia in [Mayfield](/source/Mayfield%2C_New_South_Wales), Newcastle, New South Wales,[{{cite news | author-link=David Dabydeen |first=David|last=Dabydeen| title=Anna Rutherford: Flying the flag for post-colonial literature | newspaper=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) | date=13 March 2001 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/mar/13/guardianobituaries.highereducation | access-date=4 February 2022 }}] the daughter of a steelworker.[{{cite web|url=https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/rutherford-anna-31593|title=Anna Rutherford (1932–2001)|first=Joanne|last=McCarthy|website=People Australia|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=10 December 2025}} (Original publication: ''Newcastle Herald'' (NSW), 9 May 2016.)] She studied at [Newcastle University College](/source/Newcastle_University_College), graduating with a first-class degree, after which she went to England and worked as a teacher. In 1966, she was employed as a lecturer in Commonwealth literature at the [University of Aarhus](/source/University_of_Aarhus), in Denmark.[{{cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/OLD?id=CZpe&idtype=oldid|title=Kunapipi|website=[AustLit](/source/AustLit)|date=20 May 2016|publisher=[University of Queensland](/source/University_of_Queensland)|access-date=10 December 2025}}]
From 1968 to 1996, she was Director of the Commonwealth Literature Centre at the [University of Aarhus](/source/University_of_Aarhus), Denmark, where she introduced African and [West Indian](/source/West_Indian) courses, organising in 1971 the first European conference on the [British Commonwealth](/source/British_Commonwealth) novel.[{{cite web|url=https://aclals.net/prominent-figures/|title=Prominent Figures|publisher=The Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature Study|website=aclals.net|access-date=10 December 2025}}]
In 1979, Rutherford founded '''''Kunapipi: Journal of Postcolonial Writing & Culture''''', which developed from the ''Commonwealth Newsletter'' she had established in 1971 for members of ACLALS.[{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/58683635|title=Editorial|first=Anne|last=Collett|journal=Kunapipi|volume=34|number=2|date=2012|page=viii|access-date=18 February 2022}}] The name derives from [Kunapipi](/source/Kunapipi), a [mother goddess](/source/mother_goddess) in [Aboriginal Australian mythology](/source/Aboriginal_Australian_mythology).[{{Cite book| title = Australian Aboriginal Religion | last = Berndt | first = R. M. | author-link = Ronald Murray Berndt | year = 1974 | volume = 3 | publisher = [E. J. Brill](/source/Brill_Publishers) |location=Leiden| isbn = 9004037276 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z9E3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA4 }}]
Rutherford also founded and was director of the small publishing company '''Dangaroo Press'''.[{{cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002198940103600110?journalCode=jcla|title=Anna Rutherford (1932–2001): Two Tributes|first=Bernard|last=Hickey|author2=John Thieme|journal=The Journal of Commonwealth Studies|volume=36|number=1|pages=147–150|date=1 March 2001|doi=10.1177/002198940103600110|s2cid=161784132|access-date=18 February 2022|url-access=subscription}}]
In 1996, Rutherford returned to Australia, taking ''Kunapipi'' and Dangaroo Press with her.[{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tFWM2vdVCXEC| editor-first=Jena |editor-last=Maes-Jelinek | editor2=Gordon Collier | editor3=Geoffrey V. Davis | title=A Talent(ed) Digger: Creations, Cameos, and Essays in Honour of Anna Rutherford | location=Amsterdam; Atlanta, GA | publisher=Rodopi | year=1996 |isbn=9789051839531 }}] She was a visiting fellow at [Warwick University](/source/Warwick_University) in 1998.