Dr Anita Heiss AM, Publisher at Large for Bundyi, is elated to announce her third acquisition for her Simon & Schuster Australia First Nations imprint, a commercial novel with world rights by award-winning author, academic and filmmaker, Prof Larissa Behrendt AO.

Friends for nearly four decades, the two women were brainstorming over cocktails mid-2023, looking for a project they could work on together; something fun and fabulous. Anita said, ‘It didn’t take long for us to come up with the idea of Larissa, an Austen aficionado, writing a version of Pride and Prejudice through her lens, as a Euahlayai/Gamilaroi woman.’

Larissa said, ‘As a long-time friend and admirer of her work, I am beyond excited to be working with Anita on this project. I love Jane Austen and the idea of translating the characters and story arcs through a First Nations lens is an idea that is close to my heart. Anita has been a trailblazer with new writing and I am proud to be following in her footsteps.’

In bringing the project to Simon & Schuster Australia, Anita said, ‘It’s the perfect collaboration, as Larissa wants to write something in the romance genre, and I want to publish authors who are doing new things for themselves, in their careers. It’s exciting for me as a publisher to be able to work with Larissa, as she moves into the commercial space with a potentially new audience. As a reader of Larissa’s work over the last twenty years, I am inspired by what her new writing will bring to Australian publishing and bookselling.’

Larissa’s novel is due for release in 2026.

The first title on the Bundyi imprint will be Murriyang by Stan Grant, publishing late 2024, followed by I Am Nan’nert’garrook by Tasma Walton, publishing in the first half of 2025.

 

For more information about Bundyi, visit here.

About the author

Larissa Behrendt AO is the Distinguished Professor at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology Sydney. She has a LLB and B.Juris from UNSW and a LLM and SJD from Harvard Law School. Larissa is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. She is currently Chair of the Community Spirit Foundation, a Trustee of the Australian Museum and a board member of Sydney Dance Company. Larissa is also an award-winning author, filmmaker and host of Speaking Out on ABC Radio. In 2021 she received the Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Medal and in 2020 she received an Order of Australia for distinguished service to Indigenous education and research, to the law, and to the visual and performing arts. In 2009 she was NAIDOC Person of the Year and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. Her previous novels include Home, Legacy and After Story.