Boori Monty Pryor
Boori Pryor was born in North Queensland. His father is from the Birrigubba of the Bowen region and his mother from Yarrabah (near Cairns), a descendant of the Kungganji and Kukuimudji. Boori is a multi-talented performer and basketball player who has worked in film, television, modelling, sport, music and theatre-in-education. He is a recognised speaker on Aboriginal issues.
Boori is also an accomplished didjeridoo player who has performed solo with the Brisbane Symphony Orchestra and conducted a didjeridoo workshop for Yamaha, which was broadcast nationally on ABC Radio. He has performed in many schools throughout Australia, Europe and Asia.
In 1993 he received an award for ‘the promotion of Indigenous culture’, awarded by the National Aboriginal and Islander Observance Committee and in 1994 Boori performed for the ‘Musikantenstadl’ TV show. Televised from Austria it had a viewing audience of sixty million. In 1995 he performed in Sydney before Pope John Paul II during the beatification ceremonies for Mother Mary McKillop.
Boori has written several award-winning children’s books with Meme McDonald. These include My Girragundji, The Binna Binna Man and Njunjul The Sun.
Boori lives in Melbourne, but spends much of the year on the road. His stories are about finding strength within to deal with the challenges without, and his skill is to create positive visions of the future for both Indigenous and white people.
Books by Boori Monty Pryor
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Maybe Tomorrow
Boori leads the reader from the Aboriginal fringe camps of his birth to the catwalk, basketball court, DJ console and more. This is the story of his life, his pain, his joy and his hopes.
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My Girragundji
The story of an Aboriginal boy whose house is invaded by a Hairyman - a spirit the old people call a Quinkin. When a little green tree frog lands on his windowsill, he knows she has been sent by the ancestors to help him face his fears.
Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award, Younger Readers, 1999
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The Binna Binna Man
The powerful story of an Aboriginal teenage boy who is caught between the attractions of city life and the ways of his people. After a terrifying encounter with the Binna Binna man he knows what he must do in order to be true to himself.
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature, 2000
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Ethnic Affairs Commission Award, 2000
Book of the Year, New South Wales Ministry for the Arts, 2000 -
Njunjul the Sun
A 16-year-old Aboriginal boy leaves his family and home for the big city, and as he struggles to make sense of his experience he realises that he must have the knowledge of his own people and culture in order to know who he is, and to find his direction.
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Flytrap
Nancy wants so much to be the centre of attention at school that she makes up a story - a wish, really. But with the help of stories from both sides of her family - white Australian and Aboriginal - she learns something about what is true for her, and what she herself has to offer.
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