Nardi Simpson facts for kids

Nardi Simpson, born in 1975, is a talented Yuwaalaraay musician and writer from Australia. She helped start the Indigenous folk group called Stiff Gins. Her first novel, Song of the Crocodile, came out in 2020.

Early Life and Learning

Nardi Simpson was born in Sydney in 1975. Her family belongs to the Yuwaalaraay Aboriginal Australian people from New South Wales. She spent a lot of her childhood visiting this special area.

After studying at Eora College, she went to the University of Sydney. There, she earned a bachelor's degree in Aboriginal studies.

Music Career

Simpson has been a musician for more than 20 years. She is a founding member of the Indigenous folk group Stiff Gins. She started this group with friends in 1999.

The group has released several recordings. Their first was an EP called Soh Fa in 1999. Their first full album, Origins, came out in 2001. Nardi also started the Barayagal Choir in Sydney.

Besides performing, she also writes music. ABC has called her "one of the most exciting Australian composers of her generation." She is currently studying to get her Ph.D. in composition at the Australian National University. In 2019, she joined the Ngarra Burria First Nations Composers Initiative.

Writing Stories

In 2018, Simpson won the State Library of Queensland's black&write! Writing Fellowship. This award was for her first novel, Song of the Crocodile. Hachette Publishing released the book in 2020.

Song of the Crocodile tells the story of three generations of women in one family. They deal with challenges between Indigenous and settler families as their town grows. The book also includes music and the Yuwaalaraay language. Simpson has also written articles for magazines like the Griffith Review.

Her novel received many awards and honors. It was longlisted for the Stella Prize and the Miles Franklin Award. It was also shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing and The Age's book of the year. In 2021, it won the ALS Gold Medal and the University of Queensland Fiction Book Award.

Her second novel, The Belburd, was published in 2024. This book connects the story of an Indigenous poet in modern-day Sydney with stories from the late 1700s in the same area.

Simpson wrote the introduction for Ruby Langford Ginibi's famous book, Don't Take Your Love to Town. This book was reprinted in 2023 as part of the University of Queensland Press' First Nations Classics series. This series celebrates important writing by First Nations Australians.

Awards and Recognitions