Boori Monty Pryor

Boori Monty Pryor (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian author best known as a storyteller and as the inaugural Australian Children's Laureate (2012–2013).

Early life and family

Pryor is descended from the Birri Gubba nation of the Bowen region and the Kunggandji people from Yarrabah, near Cairns. His father was Monty Prior.[1]

Career

Pryor had a long career communicating Aboriginal Australian culture to schools in Australia, performing dances, playing didgeridoo, and storytelling, before turning to writing books. He has worked in film and television, sport, and music. In 1986, Boori had an acting role alongside his brother Paul Pryor in “Women of the Sun”.[2][3][4][5]

In his keynote address for the 2013 Come Out Festival in Adelaide, Pryor spoke about the importance of storytelling, performance, and dance in engaging children with literacy, literature, and Indigenous cultures.[6]

Pryor was an ambassador for the National Year of Reading (Australia) in 2012.[7]

In film

In 2018, ABC iView released the web/television series Wrong Kind of Black, narrated by and based on Pryor’s life.[8] In September 2019, the web series was nominated for an International Emmy.[9] As of 2021, a documentary film about Boori is being made, using crowdfunding.[10]

Awards and honours

In 1990, Pryor received the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Award as a result of his "outstanding contribution to the promotion of Indigenous culture".[5]

In 2011, Shake a Leg won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Children’s Fiction. In 2012, Pryor and Alison Lester were named the first inaugural Australian Children's Laureates.[6]

Pryor's works, including those in collaboration with Meme McDonald, have also won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award and the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award. Maybe Tomorrow (1998) won a Special Commendation from the Human Rights Awards and My Girragundji (1998), won a Children's Book Council of Australia Award, while The Binna Binna Man (1999), won several awards.[1]

Selected works

Picture Books

Young adult novels

  • My Girragundji, co-authored with Meme McDonald (1998), winner of a Children's Book Council of Australia Award
  • The Binna Binna Man, co-authored with Meme McDonald (1999), won an Ethnic Affairs Commission Award in 2000
  • Njunjul the Sun, co-authored with Meme McDonald (2002)
  • Flytrap, co-authored with Meme McDonald (2002)

Non-fiction

  • Maybe Tomorrow, co-authored with Meme McDonald (1998)

References
  1. Austlit (17 September 2019). "Boori Pryor". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  2. Sheahan-Bright, Robyn (May 2013). "The Inaugural Australian Children's Laureate: 'First Term' Report 2012-2013". Magpies: Talking About Books for Children. Magpies Magazine Pty Ltd. 28 (2): 18–21. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  3. Stewart, Lucy (April–May 2012). "Meet the Laureates". Bookseller+Publisher Magazine. Bookseller+Publisher. 91 (8): 8.
  4. Osborne, Marj (September 2012). "Australian Children's Laureates—an invitation to join the story circle". Access. Australian School Library Association (ASLA). 26 (3): 26–27.
  5. "Boori Monty Pryor". Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  6. Pryor, Boori Monty (27 May 2013). keynote address (Speech). Come Out Festival 2013. Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Australia. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  7. "Boori Monty Pryor at the National Year of Reading Launch, Canberra". Australian Children's Laureate. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  8. Latimore, Jack (5 August 2018). "Wrong Kind of Black: Boori Monty Pryor's quirky web series a return to 70s Australia". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  9. Apostolou, Natalie (19 September 2019). "'Safe Harbour', 'Wrong Kind of Black' and 'The Cry' up for International Emmy Awards". IF Magazine. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  10. "Storykeepers". Documentary Australia Foundation. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
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