Media
Dr Willa McDonald
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Senior Lectureremail: willa.mcdonald@mq.edu.au phone: (02) 9850 2151 fax: location: Y3A 150 |
BACKGROUND
Willa has worked as a journalist/writer with the Sydney Morning Herald. Bulletin, the Times on Sunday (formerly the National Times, ABC TV (documentaries) and ABC Radio National.
Her work in the electronic media includes the television specials - Ladies in Lines, a documentary she researched and wrote for ABC TV (which won a Logie, a Penguin (Australian industry awards) and was a medalist in the 1989 International Film and TV Festival of New York), and The Time of Your Life (a documentary she researched which won the Logie for Best Documentary and was Silver Medalist in 1991 at the International Film and Television Festival, New York).
Her radio work includes Love Stories, a series of readings and performances produced for ABC Radio National as a response to racism.
She also devised and produced the George Munster Journalism Forums for the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney, which were broadcast on ABC Radio National.
Willa has taught English as a second language to high-school students in Japan, and has taught communications and writing at the Sydney Institute of Technology, TAFE and the University of Technology where she was also manager of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.
She completed her PhD through the University of NSW on the life and work of the literary critic, poet and peace activist Dorothy Green (1915-1991).
TEACHING
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MAS323 - Writing: Print Media 3
MAS324 - Writing: Print Media 4
RESEARCH AREAS
Creative non-fiction/literary journalism, biography and memoir, journalism ethics, travel writing, place and nature writing, race and the media.
PUBLICATIONS
Books:
Edited Anthology - The Writer's Reader: Telling Stories in Journalism and Non-fiction. In collaboration with Susie Eisenhuth from the University of Technology, Sydney, Cambridge University Press, 2007. Read the press release for The Writer's Reader.
Monograph - Warrior for Peace: Dorothy Auchterlonie Green, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2009. This book describes the peace activism of the academic Dorothy Green - a passionate teacher, literary critic, poet and social philosopher.
Journal:
Founding editor, 2008, Neo: Journal for Higher Degree Research Candidates in the Social Sciences and Humanities, Division of Society Culture, Media & Philosophy, Maquarie University.
Student Magazine:
Scope showcases non-fiction writing produced by students in the BA in Media.
Book Chapters:
Forthcoming:
McDonald, W, "Creditable or Reprehensible? The Literary Journalism of Helen Garner" to be included in an international collection on literary journalism edited by Professor John Bak for the International Association of Literary Journalism Studies in late 2010.
Published:
McDonald, W, 2007, "Dis/Connections: Expressions of belonging in non-Indigenous Australian non-fiction" in Offord, B, and Haebich, A (eds), Landscapes of Exile, Peter Lang.
McDonald, W, 2004, "New Beginnings", Finding Happiness: Single Mothers Share their China Adoption Stories, Our Chinese Daughters Foundation, Illinois.
Republished as "Wendy's Story" in 2007,Adopting overseas : a guide to adopting from Australia, plus personal stories that will inspire you by Lucy Burns and Ailsa Burns, Rockpool Publishing, Double Bay.
Articles:
McDonald, W, 2009, Review of Suzanne Falkiner's Joan in India, TEXT: Journal of the Association of Australian Writing Programs http://www.textjournal.com.au/april09/mcdonald_rev.htm
McDonald, W, 2008, "Literary Journalism in Australia", International Association for Literary Journalism Studies Newsletter, 3:1, p8
McDonald, W, 2008, "Writing Lives: Revealing Families", Scan: Journal of Media, Arts, Culture, Magazine http://scan.net.au/scan/magazine/display.php?journal_id=59
McDonald, W, 2006, "Kevin Chong's Wild Neil Chase: An Interview", Scan: Journal of Media, Arts, Culture, Magazine. http://scan.net.au/scan/magazine/display.php?journal_id=49
McDonald, W, 2003, "A short festival on trees: An overarching breath of life", Spectrum 22, Sydney Morning Herald, June 14-15.
McDonald, W, 2001/2, 'Warrior for Peace: Armed Neutrality and Dorothy Green (1915-1991)', FJHP - The Flinders Journal of History & Politics, Volume 22, pp168-183.
McDonald, W, 2000, "Writing Through Hoops", Spectrum, 2, Sydney Morning Herald, Satuday, October 21.
McDonald, Willa, 1997, "Tricky Business, Whites on Black Territory", Australian Author, Volume 29, Issue 1, Autumn, pages 11 - 14.
Exhibition Catalogue:
McDonald, W, 2002, No shame, no more, (Lisa Tomasetti, photographer), Redfern Community Foundation, Redfern, NSW.