Wanda Koolmatrie
Encyclopedia
Wanda Koolmatrie was an Indigenous Australian pseudonym
used by white Australian Leon Carmen.
In 1994, the Aboriginal publishing house Magabala Books published a novel entitled My Own Sweet Time. The author was supposedly Wanda Koolmatrie, an aboriginal woman born to the Pitjantjatjara people in 1949. She was taken from her mother in 1950, becoming one of the stolen generation
raised by white foster parents. The book was supposedly her autobiographical account. In 1996 the author received the Dobbie Award.
When Koolmatrie offered Magabala a sequel to the book in 1997, the publishers demanded to meet her for editorial discussions. It turned out that the real author was a white Australian taxi driver named Leon Carmen. In a later interview, Carmen said that he tried to break into the literary market and believed he could not get his book published otherwise.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
used by white Australian Leon Carmen.
In 1994, the Aboriginal publishing house Magabala Books published a novel entitled My Own Sweet Time. The author was supposedly Wanda Koolmatrie, an aboriginal woman born to the Pitjantjatjara people in 1949. She was taken from her mother in 1950, becoming one of the stolen generation
Stolen Generation
The Stolen Generations were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments...
raised by white foster parents. The book was supposedly her autobiographical account. In 1996 the author received the Dobbie Award.
When Koolmatrie offered Magabala a sequel to the book in 1997, the publishers demanded to meet her for editorial discussions. It turned out that the real author was a white Australian taxi driver named Leon Carmen. In a later interview, Carmen said that he tried to break into the literary market and believed he could not get his book published otherwise.