Boori Monty Pryor
Boori Pryor was born in North Queensland. His father is from the Birrigubba of the Bowen region and his mother from Yarrabah (near Cairns), a descendant of the Kungganji and Kukuimudji. Boori is a multi-talented performer and basketball player who has worked in film, television, modelling, sport, music and theatre-in-education. He is a recognised speaker on Aboriginal issues.
Boori is also an accomplished didjeridoo player who has performed solo with the Brisbane Symphony Orchestra and conducted a didjeridoo workshop for Yamaha, which was broadcast nationally on ABC Radio. He has performed in many schools throughout Australia, Europe and Asia.
In 1993 he received an award for ‘the promotion of Indigenous culture’, awarded by the National Aboriginal and Islander Observance Committee and in 1994 Boori performed for the ‘Musikantenstadl’ TV show. Televised from Austria it had a viewing audience of sixty million. In 1995 he performed in Sydney before Pope John Paul II during the beatification ceremonies for Mother Mary McKillop.
Boori has written several award-winning children’s books with Meme McDonald. These include My Girragundji, The Binna Binna Man and Njunjul The Sun.
Boori’s latest picture book is Shake a Leg, published by Allen & Unwin and winner of the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Children’s Fiction.
Boori lives in Melbourne, but spends much of the year on the road. His stories are about finding strength within to deal with the challenges without, and his skill is to create positive visions of the future for both Indigenous and white people.
Books by Boori Monty Pryor
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Maybe Tomorrow
Stunning new anniversary edition out now!
The other day this little one asked me, ‘When did you start being an Aborigine, and how old were you when you started that?’ Like it was a career path or something. I just cracked up laughing.
Boori Monty Pryor’s career path has taken him from the Aboriginal fringe camps of his birth to the catwalk, the basketball court, the DJ console, and now to performance and storytelling around the country. With writer and photographer Meme McDonald, Boori leads you along the paths he has travelled, pausing to meet his family and friends, while sharing the story of his life his pain and his hopes, with humour and compassion.
Special commendation, 1998 Human Rights Awards
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Shortlisted, 1999 CBCA Awards -
My Girragundji
The story of an Aboriginal boy whose house is invaded by a Hairyman – a spirit the old people call a Quinkin. When a little green tree frog lands on his windowsill, he knows she has been sent by the ancestors to help him face his fears.
Winner, Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award, Younger Readers, 1999
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Shortlisted, 1999 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards -
The Binna Binna Man
The powerful story of an Aboriginal teenage boy who is caught between the attractions of city life and the ways of his people. After a terrifying encounter with the Binna Binna man he knows what he must do in order to be true to himself.
Winner of three New South Wales Premier’s Awards:
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature
Ethnic Affairs Commission Award, 2000
Book of the Year, New South Wales Ministry for the Arts, 2000Winner, Book of the Year Award, 2000 TDK Audio Book Awards
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Njunjul the Sun
A 16-year-old Aboriginal boy leaves his family and home for the big city, and as he struggles to make sense of his experience he realises that he must have the knowledge of his own people and culture in order to know who he is, and to find his direction.
Winner, Young Adult Fiction, 2002 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
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Commended, 2006 Kate Challis RAKA Award -
Flytrap
Nancy wants so much to be the centre of attention at school that she makes up a story – a wish, really. But with the help of stories from both sides of her family – white Australian and Aboriginal – she learns something about what is true for her, and what she herself has to offer.
Notable Book, 2003 CBCA Awards
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Shake a Leg
Winner of the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Children’s Fiction!
A unique picture book collaboration about having fun, sharing culture and the power of story and dance. A picture book to get the whole town dancing.
From pizza shop to bora ground, here is a joyous celebration of food, dance and cultural understanding. When three young boys go to a pizza parlour and meet an Aboriginal chef who can speak Italian and make a deadly pizza, they’re in for a surprise!
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