Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 10, 2026

Anna Funder

Anna Funder is an Australian author. Her book, Stasiland, won the 2004 UK's Samuel Johnson Prize for best non-fiction published in the English language. In 2012 her novel All That I Am, won Australia’s most prestigious fiction prize, the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life, was an instant Sunday Times Bestseller on release in August 2023 and it was awarded France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger 2024. The book was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2023 and named a Book of the Year by The Guardian, the Independent, the Economist, LitHub, the Telegraph, the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times and the Times.

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Anna Funder
Anna Funder, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, 2012
Anna Funder, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, 2012
Born1966 (age 59–60)
Melbourne, Australia
OccupationWriter
NationalityAustralian
EducationBA (Hons), LLB (Hons), MA, DCA (Creative Writing)
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
Years active2002—
Notable worksStasiland (2003), All That I Am (2011), Wifedom (2023)
Notable awardsMiles Franklin Award 2012, Samuel Johnson Prize 2004
PartnerCraig Allchin
ParentsDr Kate Funder, Psychologist, Professor John Funder AC, Endocrinologist
Website
annafunder.com

Anna Funder (born 1966) is an Australian author. Her book, Stasiland, won the 2004 UK's Samuel Johnson (now Baillie Gifford) Prize for best non-fiction published in the English language.1 In 2012 her novel All That I Am, won Australia’s most prestigious fiction prize, the Miles Franklin Literary Award.2 Her Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life, was an instant Sunday Times Bestseller on release in August 20233 and it was awarded France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger 2024.4 The book was named a New York Times Notable Book of 20235 and named a Book of the Year by The Guardian,6 the Independent,7 the Economist,8 LitHub,9 the Telegraph, the Daily Telegraph,10 the Financial Times11 and the Times.12

Life

Early life

Funder’s father is Professor John Funder AC, Endocrinologist, and her mother was the late Dr Kate Funder, Psychologist.

Education

Funder was educated in Paris and Melbourne; graduating Dux of Star of the Sea College in 1983.13 She studied at the University of Melbourne and the Freie Universität of Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Funder holds a BA (Hons), English and German, an LLB (Hons), an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne and a Doctor of Creative Arts from the University of Technology Sydney.

Funder speaks French and German fluently.14

Funder began her career as an international lawyer for the Australian Government, working on human rights, constitutional law and international treaty negotiations, before leaving Australia to live in Berlin and write full-time in the late 1990s.15

Journalism

Funder’s essays, feature articles and columns have appeared in The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Paris Review, Best Australian Essays, Die Zeit in Germany and The Monthly.  Anna wrote a column for the Norwegian publication Ny Tid, alternating with Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya up until Politkovskaya’s assassination in 2006. Funder’s feature essay "Secret History"16 on the Nazi files held in the Arolsen Archives (Bad Arolsen), published in the Good Weekend and the Guardian, was awarded the ASA Maunder prize for journalism in 2007.17

Family

Anna Funder lived with her husband and three children in Brooklyn, New York for three and a half years, before returning to Australia in 2015.1819

Stasiland

Funder's first book Stasiland published in 2003 tells the stories of people who resisted the communist dictatorship of East Germany, and of people who worked for its secret police, the Stasi. Stasiland has been translated into 16 languages.20

Stasiland won the 2004 Samuel Johnson Prize and was also the finalist for the Age Book of the Year Awards, Guardian First Book Award, Queensland Premier's Literary Award, Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature (Innovation in Writing), Index Freedom of Expression Awards and the W.H. Heinemann Award.21

All That I Am

Funder's 2012 novel All That I Am tells the previously untold story of four German-Jewish anti-Hitler activists forced to flee to London. There, they continued the dangerous and illegal work of smuggling documents out of Goering's office, and giving them to Winston Churchill (a backbencher at the time) to try to alert the world to Hitler's plans for war. In 1935 two of them were found dead from poison in mysterious circumstances in a locked room in Bloomsbury. The book was called "superb" by The Spectator, "strong and impressively humane" by the Times Literary Supplement),22 "a beautiful ensemble novel of Graham Greene’esque proportions" by Weekendavisen and "an essential novel" by Colum McCann.23

The novel was BBC Book of the Week and Book at Bedtime in the UK, and The Times (London) Book of the Month for May 2012.24

Awards received

Awards nominated

Writing

Anna Funder's essays, feature articles and columns have appeared in numerous publications, such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Best Australian Essays, The Monthly29 Ny Tid, and have been selected for Best Australian Essays. Her feature Secret History which appeared in The Guardian and in Good Weekend about the files from the Nazi death camps held in obscurity by German authorities won the 2007 ASA Maunder Award for Journalism.30

Human rights activities

Funder is an ambassador for the Norwegian-based International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN).31 ICORN is a global network of cities offering safe havens for persecuted writers. She is a member of the Advisory Panel of the Australian Privacy Foundation.32

Funder is a member of the Folio Prize Academy and PEN International, in both the Australian and US chapters. In 2007 she was selected to deliver a PEN 3 Writers Lecture.33

Public appearances and named lectures

She has toured as a public speaker, and is a former German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Australia Council for the Arts, NSW Writing and Rockefeller Foundation fellow. Funder has delivered numerous named lectures, including:

Awards and recognition

List of literary awards:

List of literary award nominations:

  • The Age Book of the Year Awards
  • The Guardian First Book Award
  • Queensland Premier's Literary Award
  • Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature (Innovation in Writing)
  • Index Freedom of Expression Awards
  • W. H. Heinemann Award
  • IMPAC Award
  • Commonwealth Book Prize
  • The Prime Minister's Literary Award
  • ALS Gold Medal
  • Adelaide Festival Fiction Prize
  • Victorian Premiers Literary Award
  • The Australian Society of Authors Asher Literary Award
  • Nonfiction Indie Book Award, 202438
  • Women's Prize for Non-Fiction 2024 for Wifedom39
  • Nib Literary Award, 2024 for Wifedom40

Fellowships:

Other recognition:

Bibliography

Bibliography

References

References

  1. Gums, Whispering (20 September 2021). "Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 4: Literary nonfiction". Whispering Gums. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  2. Nancarrow, Daniel (20 June 2012). "Anna Funder's All That I Am wins Miles Franklin". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  3. Books, Better World. "Wifedom : Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life book by Anna Funder: 9780241482728". Better World Books. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  4. "Funder wins Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  5. "100 Notable Books of 2023". NY Times. 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  6. Merritt, Stephanie (13 August 2023). "Wifedom by Anna Funder review – Mrs Orwell comes up for air". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  7. "Server Busy". www.amazon.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 November 2025. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  8. "The best books of 2023, as chosen by The Economist". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  9. Marks, Book (25 August 2023). "What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week". Literary Hub. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  10. "The 50 best books of 2023 – ranked". Telegraph Culture Desk. 24 November 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  11. "Best books of 2023 — Literary non-fiction". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  12. Hughes. "Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder review - the woman behind 1984". The Times. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  13. "Dux of the College". Starmelb.catholic.edu.au. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  14. "Meet the Panellists of Critical Mass – 4.00pm – 4.30pm Sundays on ABC TV". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  15. "Anna Funder – About". Annafunder.com. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  16. Funder, Anna (15 June 2007). "Secret history". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  17. Reilly, Maureen (30 April 2025). "'Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life' by Anna Funder". Key Peninsula News. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  18. "Free Agent". The Monthly. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  19. "Anna Funder on life in the US: 'I underestimated what a radically different culture it has'". The Guardian. 29 September 2015.
  20. Kennan, ByCatherine (3 September 2011). "Celebrating courage". Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  21. "Anna Funder". oclw.web.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2026.
  22. Scurr, Ruth (16 September 2011). "Kindness in the shadows". Times literary supplement. 5659: 20 – via ProQuest Information and Learning.
  23. "Anna Funder". Annafunder.com. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  24. Billen, Andrew (12 May 2012). "Book Club, May 2012". The Times. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  25. "2012 Winner: Anna Funder", Miles Franklin Literary Award
  26. 2012 Barbara Jefferis Award
  27. "2012 & prior". Indie Book Awards. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  28. Mem: 9732184. "'All That I Am' wins booksellers choice award | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 28 May 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. "Results for: anna funder". The Monthly. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  30. "Secret history". the Guardian. 15 June 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  31. "ICORN international cities of refuge network". Icorn.org. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  32. "Advisory Panel". Australian Privacy Foundation. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  33. "Anna Funder on courage (p2): Sydney PEN 3 Voices Project". YouTube. 2 May 2013. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  34. "Hamsters with Plasmas" (PDF). Libertyvictoria.org. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  35. "Watch Anna Funder on courage: Sydney PEN 3 Voices Project – SlowTV Episodes – How To Videos – Blip". Blip.tv. 18 November 2008. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  36. "Dymphna Clark Lecture by Anna Funder – Events at The University of Melbourne". Events.unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  37. "Podcast: Closing Address: Anna Funder: Bears Out There". swf.org.au. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  38. "Indie Book Awards 2024 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  39. Creamer, Ella (15 February 2024). "Guardian writer and Observer critic longlisted for inaugural Women's prize for nonfiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  40. "Nib Literary Award 2024 finalists announced". Books+Publishing. 18 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  41. "Literature assessment meeting report – December 2011". Australia Council for the Arts. December 2011. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  42. "Sydney's Top 100 Most Influential People". The Sydney Morning Herald – The Sydney Magazine. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  43. "Women of Style – Women of Style Winners 2013". InStyle. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  44. Bakewell, Sarah (26 August 2023). "One Biography Questions Orwell's Image, and Another Brings His First Wife Into Focus". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  45. Tribune, Chris Hewitt Star (16 August 2023). "Review: I loved 'Wifedom' but it will make you hate George Orwell". Star Tribune. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  46. Merritt, Stephanie (13 August 2023). "Wifedom by Anna Funder review – Mrs Orwell comes up for air". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
External links