About Me:

Kirli Saunders (OAM) is a proud Gunai woman who rarely stays in her lane. She is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, writer, singer-songwriter, and consultant who creates to connect and make change. In 2022, Kirli was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to the arts, followed by the Dr Guy Warren AM Award for Arts and Culture (UOW, 2025) and NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year (2020).

Kirli’s creative practice spans installation, literature, and performance. She has partnered with global organisations, including Google, Fender, Sydney Opera House, Qantas, Spotify, Mecca, Vogue, National Geographic, Aesop, ABC.

Kirli’s nine books have been recognised by major literary prizes including the Prime Minister’s, Queensland, Victorian, and Western Australian Premiers’ Literary Awards, the CBCA, and the ABIA. Her titles include Beyond the Shore (Scholastic, 2025), Eclipse (Allen & Unwin, 2025), Afloat (Hardie Grant, 2024), The Land Recalls You (2024), Returning (2023), Our Dreaming (2022), Bindi (2020), Kindred (2019), and The Incredible Freedom Machines (2018).

Her theatre show, Yandha Djanbay (Merrigong Theatre, 2025), endorsed by APAX and PANNZ, will tour Australia and New Zealand in 2026–27. Kirli also writes for Play School (ABC).

As a singer-songwriter, Kirli was commissioned by ABC Classic to write Summer Together, composed by Elena Kats-Chernin for the Sydney Philharmonia Choir. She performed backing vocals for Jack River’s 2023 Like a Version (Triple J) as well as live events. With the assistance of Creative Australia, Kirli and Mark Chester Harding have formed Cooee, an indie music project recording and releasing five singles and an album- Messengers in 2025/26.

Kirli led Poetry in First Languages, Returning and Re[ad]generate, delivered in partnership with many First Nations collaborators and industry partners. She helped shape the CreateNSW Aboriginal Arts Culture Protocols, and is a member of Merrigong Theatre Companies First Nations Advisory Group.

Kirli designed the drone installation Buungbaa Ma Ndhu (Fremantle Biennale x Ngununggula Gallery) and has been commissioned for Shared Skies (2025), a collaboration with the Sā Biennale, ANU, Siding Spring Observatory, and Fremantle Biennale. Her voice-to-art work TRACES with Kamsani Bin Salleh was created with Google, Magabala Books, and the Sydney Opera House for VIVID. Kirli has delivered permanent public artworks for Denver Zoo, Transport for NSW, and Health Infrastructure NSW, with pieces spanning vinyl, fibre, installation, and paint. Her W25 Collection with Yuki Threads sold out, and she has exhibited with leading galleries and festivals nationwide.

Cooee in studio

Wallflowers & Evergreens, Kirli Saunders & Tad Souden 2021

  • "Creating, to connect, to make change"

    Kirli Saunders

Kirli Saunders has blonde wavy hair, she's wearing a dress and performing on Sydney Opera House stage with a microphone, surrounded by tall dry grasses, in a dark setting with stage lighting.
Kirli Saunders leads a group of Aboriginal women and children, they dance a brolga dance together, wearing ochre from Country, honouring their Ancestors
Kirli Saunders wears a long red dress standing in shallow water at the beach, with a clear blue sky and rocky coastline in the background.
Kirli Saunders wears a possum skin coat standing outdoors near a body of water and rocks.
Kirli Saunders wears a yellow dress, it's a sunny day. She splashes in the ocean, smiling.
Kirli Saunders is smiling facing the camera. She wears a bright pink top and jeans, she's outside of the Ngununggula gallery in Bowral.
Kirli Saunders has shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes smiling, She's wearing a pink top and heart-shaped earrings. She stands outdoors near a large paper-bark tree trunk.
Kirli Saunders wears a red, yellow and back headband. She has ochre in her face. She looks powerful, speaking into a microphone on a stage
Kirli Saunders wears Bobbi Lockyer swim wear and red sunglasses on the Australian Fashion Week Run Way.
Black and white portrait of a Kirli Saunders - a woman with shoulder-length wavy hair wearing earrings and a necklace, looking directly at the camera.
Kirli Saunders leans her head on her hand, sitting at a table with a purple notebook and a pen, looking thoughtfully to the side indoors, with a brick wall and green tiled wall in the background.
Kirli Saunders has curly brown hair, wearing a pink blouse and brown pants, standing outdoors in front of a tree and greenery, smiling with her hand on her hip.

ACCOLADES

  • Cooee, supporting Phantastic Ferniture, Metro Theatre

    'Crossing the Line', Seven Marks gallery Exhibit

    Speaker, Headspace Schools & Communities National Meeting

    Cooee Performance, Thirroul Music Festival

    MC, Giiyong Festival

    Cooee Performance, Culture Mix

    Cooee music support for Kee’ahn at The Vanguard

    Artist Residency, Shared Skies

    Commissioned writer, ABC’s series ‘Playschool’ - Series 378, Ep4

    Wallflowers & Evergreens Screening, Sydney Opera House

    Yandha Djanbay, Solo theatre work Showcase pitch at APAX.

    Speaker, Byron Writers Festival

    ‘Mate You’re Standing on Stolen Land’ installation at Wollongong Art Gallery for the Greetings From Wollongong Exhibition

    Speaker, Sydney Writers Festival

    Commissioned Artist, NSW Health Infrastructure, Bowral Hospital

    ‘Mate You’re Standing on Stolen Land’ installation at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery for the Sunbaker Exhibition

    Shortlisted works on paper prize, SHAC Gallery, Highly Commended

    Keynote Speaker , ICMI, Good Shepherd ANZ 

    Commissioned writer, ABC’s series ‘Playschool’ - Series 374 - Ep2

    Cooee Performance, Culture shapers Event

    The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2025, Afloat, shortlisted

    CBCA Book of the Year Awards - Picture Book of the Year Notable, Afloat

    CBCA Book of the Year Awards - Picture Book of the Year Notable, The Land Recalls You

    Yandha Djanbay, Solo theatre work development and presentation with Merrigong Theatre

    International Womens Day Speaker, Marie Claire

  • Keynote speaker for various NSW Public Schools, Independent & Catholic schools

    Keynote Speaker, Teaching Excellence Program graduation event, Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership 

    MC, Creative Australia Awards

    Nominated AACTA Award for Best Children’s Program, ABC’s Series Playschool, Episode: Big Ted’s Time Machine

    Poetry Performance, Marie Claire, Woman of the Year Awards

    Shortlisted works on paper prize, SHAC Gallery

    Commissioned writer, ABC’s series ‘Playschool’

    Keynote Address, Copyright Agency 50th anniversary

    Keynote Speaker, Museum Of Australian Democracy At Old Parliament House

    Speaker, Berry Writers Festival

    Commissioned Artist, NSW Government for the 2024 HSC graduating class

    ‘Mate You’re Standing on Stolen Land’ installation at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery for the Sunbaker Exhibition

    Cooee Performance, Culture Mix, Wollongong City Council

    Poetry Performance, Youtube x Sense Group

    Speaker, Poem Forest Red Room poetry x DART

    Cooee performance, Bloomfield Music and Arts Festival

    Cooee performance, Red Room Poetry x BBC x ABC Contains Strong Language (CSL) broadcast and live festival

    Panelist & Speaker, South Coast Writers Festival

    Shortlisted Artist, NSW Health Infrastructure, Shoalhaven Hospital

    Keynote Speaker, ICMI, Tyro

    Keynote Speaker, ICMI, Marriot

    Commissioned Artist - Mural woven installation & digital design, Transport NSW

    Commissioned Artist, Denver Zoo's Australian Down Under Exhibit

    Guest, ABC's series 'Playschool'

    Panelist & Guest Speaker, Newcastle Writers Festival

    Guest Speaker, Blak & Bright First Nations literary festival

    Guest speaker, Marie Claire, International Women's Day

    Guest Speaker, Adelaide Writers Festival

  • ‘Buungbaa-ma-ndhu’, Light and audio show for First Lights presented by Fremantle Biennale x Ngununggula

    Traces Panel, Outlines Festival

    Panelist, Sydney Writers Festival

    Panel Host, State Library of NSW

    Panelist, Melbourne Writers Festival

    Guest Speaker, UOW Graduate Ceremony

    Panelist, Queensland Poetry Festival

    Panelist, Open Field Contemporary Art Festival

    ‘We Don’t Cry, We Don’t Miss’ sculptural poem, displayed in Open Field Contemporary Art Festival

    Commissioned Artist, Open Field x Shoalhaven Gallery

    Panelist & Guest Speaker, Blak & Bright

    Keynote Speaker, Wilkinson Butler, International Women’s Day

    ‘We Don’t Cry, We Don’t Miss’ sculptural poem, Wollongong City Council, Sculpture in the Gardens

    Our Dreaming, 2023 CBCA Notables, Picture Book of the Year.

    Contributor, NANGAMAY Dream MANA Gather DJURALI Grow: First Nations Australia LGBTQIA+ Poetry (Black Books).

    ‘Greedy’, Fibre, shell & audio installation, for Linger Dash Talk World Pride Exhibition at Cement Fondu.

    ‘Ngurra’, cyanotype & natural fibres, Ngali Jugun Ganaree (Of Our Country) at First Draft

    Shortlisted Artist collaborating with TILT Industrial Design, Yananurala, City of Sydney

    MC, WulgulOra Morning Ceremony, NSW Department of Premier & Cabinet

  • Order of Australia Medal recipient for Contribution to the Arts, particularly Literature

    Bindi, Shortlisted, Ena Nöel Shortlist, IBBY Australia

    Bindi, Shortlisted 2022 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, Children’s Literature Award

    Collaborating Artist, ‘TRACES’ voice to art audiovisual installation for VIVID with Kamsani Bin Salleh, Magabala Books, Google, Sydney Opera House 2022

    Shortlisted Artist collaborating with TILT Industrial Design, Shoalhaven City Council

    ‘Carry On’, Digital Print on Fender American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster for Fender X Children’s Ground 2022

    ‘Garrigarran’, multilayered digital print on aluminum, Wollongong City Council with thanks to Coomaditchie United Aboriginal Corporation

    ‘Oneness’ Vinyl on Glass for AESOP, Pitt St Mall.

    ‘Mate you’re Standing on Stolen Land’, Vinyl on timber, Wollongong Regional Art Gallery, 2022

    ‘Mate you’re Standing on Stolen Land’, Vinyl, Red Earth Arts Precinct, 2020-22.

    ‘Ngurragu Dhadjam (come home soon)’, Acrylic on ply, Good Space Gallery 2022

    ‘Collaborative Possum Skin Cloak’, with community, Siteworks, Bundanon Trust 2022.

    Shortlisted Artist, Sanctuary Point Library Public Art Commission

    Master of Ceremonies, WugulOra, Dept. Premiers & Cabinet and National Broadcast

    Judge, Queensland Literary Awards, 2022

    Judge, Poem Forest, Red Room Poetry 2022

    Board Member & First Nations Advisory Group, Merrigong Theatre

  • Returning, solo exhibition SHAC Gallery

    Board Member, Merrigong Theatre

    Founder, Re[ad]generate, 2021.

    Bindi, Winner, Queensland Literary Awards, Children’s Book Award

    Bindi, Winner, WA Premiers Literary, Daisy Utemorrah Award

    Bindi, Winner, 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards, Small Publishers’ Children’s Book Of The Year

    Bindi, Winner, 2021 Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards

    Bindi, Shortlist, 2021 Australian Book Designers Association Awards

    Bindi, Shortlist, 2021 CBCA Awards

    Bindi, Shortlist, 2021 Readings Children’s Book Prize

    Bindi, Longlist, 2021 Colin Roderick Award

    Kindred, Shortlist, 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Indigenous Writing

    Shortlisted, Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize

    Keynote Speaker, Australian Consulate-General, Chennai

    Speaker, Australian Reconciliation Conference

    Speaker, Reconciliation Australia Conference 2021

    Keynote Speaker, CBCA Australia AAA conference, 2021

    Solo Exhibition, Returning, SHAC Gallery

    Guest Writer, Australian Consulate, Chennai 2021

    Commissioned Artist, Wollongong Council for Port Kembla Precinct Project

    IDEO Hello Design Thinking Course

  • NSW Aboriginal Woman Of The Year 2020

    Board Member, Merrigong Theatre

    Kindred, Shortlisted, Australian Book Industry Awards, Small Publishers’ Adult Book Of The Year

    Kindred, Commended, Kate Challis RAKA Award

    Judge, Prime Minister’s Literary Awards

    Judge, Val Vallis Award

    Going Home, Commissioned by Playwriting Australia

    Returning: Poetic Arts Exhibition + Publication supported by Australia Council For the Arts

    Runner-up, The Nakata Brophy Prize

    Commissioned Artist, Wollongong Gallery for Here + Now Gallery, 2020

    Commissioned Artist, Shoalhaven Gallery for Terra Within, 2020

    Dead Horse Gap, co-writer, Merrigong Theatre 2019

    200 Hr Yoga Teacher Trained

    AUSCO Grant Recipient, Returning 2020.

  • The Incredible Freedom Machines, CBCA Notables

    The Incredible Freedom Machines, Shortlisted, Prime Minister’s Literary Awards

    The Incredible Freedom Machines, Shortlisted, Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards – Indigenous Children

    Winner, The University Of Canberra ATSI Poetry Prize

    Guest Writer, Australian Embassy, Jakarta & Bali

    Finalist, Contemporary NOW Arts Prize

  • Founder, Poetry in First Languages

    Runner-up, The Nakata Brophy Prize

    Highly Commended, Black&Write