Santilla Chingaipe

Photo credit: U-P

About The Author

Santilla Chingaipe is a filmmaker, historian and author, whose work explores settler colonialism, slavery, and postcolonial migration in Australia. Chingaipe’s critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary Our African Roots is streaming on SBS On Demand; Black Convicts builds on the research for that, taking it further. The recipient of several awards, she was also recognised at the United Nations as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world in 2019. She is a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper, and served as a member of the Federal Government’s Advisory Group on Australia-Africa Relations. Chingaipe is the founder of Behind The Screens, an annual program supported by VicScreen, aimed at increasing the representation of people historically excluded from the Australian film industry. She is based in Melbourne.

Books by Santilla Chingaipe

Black Convicts

How slavery shaped Australia

Shortlisted for the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards, The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award
Shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize
Readings Best Books of 2024, Non-Fiction

The story of Australia’s Black convicts has been all but erased from our...

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