Anna Krien – författare

*Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2014*‘The Pies beat the Saints and the city of Melbourne was still cloaked in black and white crepe paper when the rumour of a pack rape by celebrating footballers began to surface. By morning, the head of the sexual crimes squad confirmed to journalists that they were preparing to question two players ... And so, as police were confiscating bed sheets from a townhouse in South Melbourne, the trial by media began.’What does a young footballer do to cut loose? At night, some play what they think of as pranks, or games. Night games with women. Sometimes these involve consensual sex, but sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they fall into a grey area.In Night Games, Anna Krien follows the trial of a young footballer. Fearlessly and without prejudice, she shines a light into the darkest recesses of sports culture.

An electrifying story of fear and sacrifice, and what people will do to outrun the shadows.Iraqi aspiring pianist Nasim falls from favour with Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic son, triggering a perilous search for safety. In Australia, decades later, Gerry is in fear of his tyrannical father, Toohey, who has returned from the Iraq War bearing the physical and psychological scars of conflict. Meanwhile, Robbie is dealing with her own father’s dementia when the past enters the present.These characters’ worlds intertwine in a brilliant narrative of guilt and reckoning, trauma and survival. Crossing the frontiers of war, protest and reconciliation, Act of Grace is a meditation on inheritance: the damage that one generation passes on to the next, and the potential for transformation.‘Act of Grace is bold, brilliant and breathtakingly humane. Anna Krien makes riveting the sweep of history and the lived price of war; at the same time she reveals, with great insight, the intimacies of daily love and tiny, splintering acts of violence in families. She is both wide-angle and close-up, and there is redemption in every line. Anna Krien is the real deal – a novelist for our times.’ —Anna Funder, author of All That I Am‘Masterful – a far-reaching tapestry of a novel. Nuanced and whip-smart, this is a work of profound empathy – a book of and for our times. As Act of Grace unfolds with precise muscularity, Krien’s inhabitation of each character approaches the divine.’ —Peggy Frew, author of The Islands and Hope Farm‘Act of Grace is a work of stunning virtuosity. Krien has taken a huge leap of creative faith, and from the very first page to the last I was ready to follow her anywhere.’ —Ceridwen Dovey, author of In the Garden of the Fugitives and Only the Animals‘An ambitious and compelling study of trauma and how it’s transferred and inherited … a nuanced consideration of the different forms and ethics of activism.’ —Books+Publishing

Longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award 2020 ''A novelist for our times'' Anna Funder, author of Stasiland In this brilliant novel of fear and sacrifice, trauma and survival, four characters'' lives intertwine across time and place. Australian soldier Toohey returns from Baghdad in 2003 with shrapnel in his neck, crippled by PTSD. A decade earlier, aspiring pianist Nasim falls from favour with Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic son Uday, triggering a perilous search for safety. In Melbourne as the millennium turns, Robbie, faced with her father''s dementia and family silences that may never be addressed, begins to test boundaries. And in the present day, Gerry seeks to escape his father Toohey''s tyranny and heal the wounds inflicted by it.Act of Grace is a meditation on inheritance: the damage that one generation bestows upon the next, and the potential for transformation. It is a searing, powerful and utterly original work by an exceptional Australian writer.

Longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award 2020'A novelist for our times' Anna Funder, author of Stasiland In this brilliant novel of fear and sacrifice, trauma and survival, four characters' lives intertwine across time and place. Australian soldier Toohey returns from Baghdad in 2003 with shrapnel in his neck, crippled by PTSD. A decade earlier, aspiring pianist Nasim falls from favour with Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic son Uday, triggering a perilous search for safety. In Melbourne as the millennium turns, Robbie, faced with her father's dementia and family silences that may never be addressed, begins to test boundaries. And in the present day, Gerry seeks to escape his father Toohey's tyranny and heal the wounds inflicted by it.Act of Grace is a meditation on inheritance: the damage that one generation bestows upon the next, and the potential for transformation. It is a searing, powerful and utterly original work by an exceptional Australian writer.

Winner, 2011 Queensland Premier''s Literary Awards Winner, 2011 Victorian Premier''s Literary AwardsFor many years, the Tasmanian wilderness has been the site of a fierce struggle. At stake is the future of old-growth forests. Loggers and police face off with protesters deep in the forest, while savage political games are played in the courts and parliaments.In Into the Woods, Anna Krien, armed with a notebook, a sleeping bag and a rusty sedan, ventures behind the battlelines to see what it is like to risk everything for a cause. She speaks to ferals and premiers, sawmillers and whistle-blowers. She investigates personalities and convictions, methods and motives. This is a book about a company that wanted its way and the resistance that eventually forced it to change.Updated with a new afterword, Into the Woods is intimate, intrepid reporting by a fearless new voice.Shortlisted, 2011 NSW Premier’s Literary AwardsShortlisted, 2011 WA Premier’s Literary AwardsShortlisted, ABIA Newcomer of the Year AwardShortlisted, 2011 Blake Dawson Business Literature Prize‘Anna Krien’s intimate, urgent book pulsates with life and truth.’ —Chloe Hooper‘Anna Krien is Australia’s young, female Hunter S. Thompson.’ —Amanda Lohrey‘Closely observed and beautifully written.’ —Monthly‘A beautifully wrought, deeply thoughtful on-the-ground look at the struggle over Tasmania’s forests’ —Bookseller + Publisher‘A highly readable book … that comprehensively explains the causes, history and the “truths” of logging in Tasmania.’ —Big Issue‘Her courageous and exhaustive research has exposed the movers and shakers though up-close, fearless reporting.’ —PSnews‘Krien has produced a riveting piece of reportage.’ —Herald Sun‘Now in its second edition with updated afterword and a swag of prizes, Krien’s masterly journey through Tasmania''s forest wars remains a compelling read.’ —Australian Education Union News‘A must read for anyone who cares about the environment.’ —Illawarra Mercury‘A remarkable account’ —Age‘[A] penetrating, insightful account of the history and current state of the decades-long battle over Tasmania’s endangered forests.’ —Advertiser‘It is only through a sustained narrative such as this that we can understand our recent history.’ —Bendigo Weekly‘Anna Krien has proven herself a willing student, a brave and balanced reporter/researcher, a gifted writer, and an exciting new voice in the tradition of female literary journalists.’ —Literary Journalism Studies‘Written in lean and handsome prose, I reckon Into the Woods might just qualify for that most hackneyed of critical adjectives in the book trade: “important”.’ —CrikeyAnna Krien is the author of Night Games, Into the Woods and Quarterly Essay 45 Us and Them. Her work has been published in the Monthly, the Age, the Big Issue, The Best Australian Essays, The Best Australian Stories, Griffith Review, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Colors, frankie and Dazed & Confused.

For the first time in history, humans sit unchallenged at the top of the food chain. As we encroach on the wild and a vast wave of extinctions gathers force, how has our relationship with animals changed?In this dazzling essay, Anna Krien investigates the world we have made and the complexity of the choices we face. From pets to the live cattle trade, from apex predators to scientific experiments, Krien shows how we should and do treat our fellow creatures. As she delves deeper, she finds that animals can trigger primal emotions in us, which we are often unwilling to acknowledge. This is a clear-eyed meditation on humanity and animality, us and them, that brings out the importance of animals in an unforgettable way. I am not weighing up whether our treatment of animals is just, because it isn t. That age-old debate is a farce deep down we all know it. The real question is, just how much of this injustice are we prepared to live with? Anna Krien, Us and Them