{{Short description|Australian writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}{{Use Australian English|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox writer | name = Debra Dank | alma_mater = Deakin University | notable_works = ''We Come With This Place'' | awards = New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards {{Plainlist| *Book of the Year *Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction * UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing * Indigenous Writers' Prize }} | image = Debra Dank.jpg | caption = Dank at the 2023 NSW Premier's Literary Awards | occupation = Memoirist | citizenship = }}
'''Debra Dank''' is an Aboriginal Australian author and academic. She is known for her 2022 memoir ''We Come With This Place'', which won an unprecedented four prizes at the 2023 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.
==Early life and education== Debra Dank is a Gudanji / Wakaja and Kalkadoon woman from the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory.<ref name=unisa2025/>
She completed a Master of Education<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2023-02-07 |title=Our graduates – 2015 |url=https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/student-life-and-services/indigenous-students/nikeri/graduates |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Deakin University |language=en}}</ref> and graduated with a PhD in narrative theory and semiotics at Deakin University in Melbourne in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-01 |title=Debra Dank for The Stella Shortlist |url=https://thegarretpodcast.com/debra-dank-for-stella-shortlist/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=The Garret |language=en-AU}}</ref>
==Writing career== Dank adapted her award-winning book, ''We Come With This Place'', from work towards her PhD thesis.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Dow |first=Steve |date=2023-05-22 |title=Debut author Debra Dank breaks records at NSW premier's literary awards |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/22/significantly-shocking-debut-author-debra-dank-breaks-records-at-nsw-premiers-literary-awards |access-date=2023-06-03 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2023-04-05 |title=We Come With This Place: Debra Dank on her debut and what comes next |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/04/05/229006/we-come-with-this-place-debra-dank-on-her-debut-and-what-comes-next/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}</ref> She was encouraged by her supervisor to shape the book without chapters to allow what she described as "nonlinear storying as it exists in my community".<ref name=":2" />
==Teaching== Dank has spent around 40 years working in primary, secondary, and tertiary education in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and the Northern Territory.<ref name=unisa2025>{{cite web | title=Rachel Perkins, Dr Debra Dank & Daniel Riley in-conversation with Professor Wesley Enoch AM | website=Home | date=6 March 2025 | url=https://unisa.edu.au/connect/hawke-centre/events-and-exhibitions/events/2025/debra_dank_rachel_perkins/ | access-date=12 May 2025}}</ref>
Dank was a lecturer in Indigenous studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast from February to September 2023.<ref name=":1" />
In August 2023 she was appointed Enterprise Fellow with the University of South Australia in Adelaide,<ref name=unisa2025/> a research and teaching position focusing on topics that directly benefit Aboriginal peoples.<ref>{{cite web | title=Aboriginal Enterprise Fellow | website=Home | url=https://unisa.edu.au/about-unisa/working-at-unisa/vacancies/seeking-aboriginal-enterprise-fellows | access-date=12 May 2025}}</ref>
==Other activities== Dank was due to join a discussion about the role of storytelling, hosted by the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre in partnership with WOMADelaide Planet Talks, along with filmmaker Rachel Perkins, and led by playwright Wesley Enoch, in March 2025. However, she was unable to attend owing to Cyclone Alfred in Queensland.<ref name=unisa2025/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250227070528/https://www.unisa.edu.au/connect/hawke-centre/events-and-exhibitions/events/2025/debra_dank_rachel_perkins/ Rachel Perkins & Dr Debra Dank in-conversation with Professor Wesley Enoch AM] (archived 27 February 2025)</ref>
==Recognition and awards== ''We Come With This Place'' was included on the 2022 Prime Minister's Summer Reading List, compiled by the Grattan Institute.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-24 |title=Announcing Grattan Institute's 2022 Prime Minister's Summer Reading List |url=https://grattan.edu.au/news/announcing-grattan-institutes-2022-prime-ministers-summer-reading-list/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Grattan Institute |language=en-AU}}</ref> In April 2023 it was shortlisted for the Stella Prize.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lamond |first=Julieanne |date=2023-04-26 |title=Stella Prize shortlist 2023: your guide to 6 gripping, courageous books |url=http://theconversation.com/stella-prize-shortlist-2023-your-guide-to-6-gripping-courageous-books-202958 |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=The Conversation |language=en}}</ref>
At the 2023 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Dank won an unprecedented four awards, the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction, UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, the Indigenous Writers' Prize, and overall Book of the Year, for ''We Come With This Place''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Jefferson |first=Dee |date=2023-05-22 |title=One book just won a record four out of 14 prizes at $350,000 NSW literary awards |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-22/nsw-premiers-literary-award-winners-debra-dank-indigenous-memoir/102375926 |access-date=2023-06-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Knowles |first=Rachael |date=2023-05-23 |title=Debra Dank uses history-making literary win to call out fracking on her Country |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/gudanji-wakaja-made-history-at-nsw-premie/i6d2x3dqo |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=NITV |language=en}}</ref>
In July 2023, ''We Come With This Place'' won the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-05 |title=Dank's 'We Come with This Place' wins ALS Gold Medal |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/07/05/233721/danks-we-come-with-this-place-wins-als-gold-medal/ |access-date=2023-07-10 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}</ref>
At the Queensland Literary Awards it won the Nonfiction Book Award<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2023-09-05 |title=Winners of the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards announced |url=https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/98623 |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=Media statements |publisher=Queensland Government}}</ref> and was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance and the People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-02 |title=Queensland Literary Awards 2023 shortlists |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/08/02/234999/queensland-literary-awards-2023-shortlists/ |access-date=2023-08-02 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}</ref> It was also shortlisted for the Nonfiction Award at the 2023 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-26 |title=Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2023 shortlists announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/10/26/239949/prime-ministers-literary-awards-2023-shortlists-announced/ |access-date=2023-10-26 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}</ref>
An extract from ''We Come With This Place'' was included in a 2023 NSW Higher School Certificate examination.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Christopher |date=2023-10-11 |title=HSC students stumped by apricots in first English exam |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hsc-students-stumped-by-apricots-in-first-english-exam-20231011-p5ebgw.html |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref>
Dank's 2025 book, ''Ankami'', was shortlisted for the 2026 Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-10 |title=Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2026 shortlists announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2025/12/10/321084/victorian-premiers-literary-awards-2026-shortlists-announced/ |access-date=2025-12-10 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}</ref>
== Works ==
* ''Ridimbat Langa Ola Biginnini = Reading with Children'', parallel text, dual-language book in Kriol and English, Indigenous Literacy Foundation, 2011<ref>{{Citation |author1=Dank |first=Debra |title=Ridimbat langa ola biginnini = Reading with children |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/191346645 |publication-date=2011 |access-date=3 June 2023 |publisher=Indigenous Literacy Foundation}}</ref> * ''We Come With This Place'', Echo Publishing, 2022<ref>{{Citation |author1=Dank |first=Debra |title=We come with this place |date=5 July 2022 |publication-date=2022 |edition=First published 2022 This ebook edition published 2022 |publisher=Echo Publishing |isbn=978-1-76068-740-3}}</ref> * ''Ankami'', Echo Publishing, 2025 * ''Terraglossia'', Echo Publishing, 2025
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dank, Debra}} Category:21st-century Australian memoirists Category:21st-century Australian women writers Category:Australian women memoirists Category:Indigenous Australian memoirists Category:Academic staff of the University of the Sunshine Coast Category:Deakin University alumni Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)