Kate Howarth (writer)
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Kate Howarth (born 1950, Sydney) is an Aboriginal Australian writer whose memoir Ten Hail Marys was published by the University of Queensland Press in 2010. The sequel, Settling Day, was published in 2015.
Early life
Howarth was raised by her grandmother and other relatives in Darlinghurst and rural N.S.W.[1] She was taken out of school at age 14 when she fell pregnant at the age of 15, and went to the St Margaret's Home for Unwed Mothers in Sydney.[2] After giving birth, she resisted giving her son up for adoption and became one of the few women to leave the institution with her child.[3] The story of the first 17 years of her life is recounted in her memoir Ten Hail Marys, which challenges evidence taken at a Parliamentary inquiry into adoption practices in N.S.W. from 1950 to 1998.[1]
In 2015 the sequel to Ten Hail Marys, Settling Day, was published. It takes up where the previous book leaves off, and follows Howarth's path from a homeless teen.
Books
- Ten Hail Marys (2010) ISBN 978-0-7022-3770-6
- Settling Day (2015) ISBN 978-0-7022-5005-7
Awards and nominations
- 2008 - Queensland Premier's Literary Awards (David Uniapon Award) - shortlisted for Ten Hail Marys
- 2010 - Victorian Premier's Literary Award - shortlisted for Indigenous Writing Award
- 2010 - Won The Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year