Tony Birch

Tony Birch (born 1957) is an Indigenous Australian author, academic and activist. He regularly appears on ABC local radio and Radio National shows and at writers’ festivals. He was head of the Honours programme for creative writing at the University of Melbourne before becoming the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne in June 2015.
In 2017 he became the first Indigenous writer to win the Patrick White Award.
Heritage and early life.
Birch's maternal great-grandfather was an Afghan, who migrated to Australia in 1890, who had to get exemption from the "Immigration Restriction Act 1901" to take his wife home to meet the family. He also has Barbadian convict (James "Prince" Moodie, transported to Tasmania for 14 years for "disobedience") and Indigenous heritage.
He grew up around Fitzroy, a working-class suburb of Melbourne considered a slum. After being expelled for the second time, he left school aged 15 and became a telegram boy on a bicycle.
Career.
After spending a decade as a firefighter, Birch attended Melbourne university as a mature student when he was 30 years old. In 2003 he was awarded the Chancellor's Medal for the best PhD in Arts.
Birch has appeared on ABC radio on shows such as "Conversations with Richard Fidler", "Life Matters" and RN Afternoons.
He became the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne in June 2015 and is still a research fellow there. His work involves academic research, creative writing projects, student mentoring, lecturing and community engagement. 
Activism.
Birch is politically active in the climate change and Indigenous title movements. In his novels, he has incorporated themes affecting Indigenous people, such as colonial oppression, dispossession, the Stolen Generations and generational violence, but weaves them creatively into the stories. He donates a portion of any prize money to the Indigenous youth organisation dedicated to climate justice, Seed.