Photo Credit: Jessica Lindsay
Van Badham is an internationally award-winning writer, theatremaker and broadcaster. She is a featured columnist for The Guardian and has also written for The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Telegraph (UK) and The Age. She was a Walkley finalist for her non-fiction book debut, 2021’s best-selling QAnon And On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults and Van was the first Australian to win Britain’s Harold Hobson prize for theatre criticism.
Van’s appeared numerous times for the ABC’s Q And A and previously on The Drum, for The Project on Ten, on Politics HQ for Sky, Sunrise on Channel 7 and The Today Show on Channel 9. In 2023, she hosted the documentary series Dusted for ABC Radio National’s The History Listen and is a regular guest for RN’s Statewide. As a writer of radio drama, she’s been broadcast both by the ABC and BBC. Presently, she co-hosts the award winning news/politics podcast The Week on Wednesday, which has had more than a million downloads as of August, 2023.
As a theatremaker, Van’s most recent plays include Animal Farm for Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia, Banging Denmark for the Sydney Theatre Company, Big Baby for Terrapin, The Bloody Chamber for Malthouse and The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars for Griffin. Van was writer in residence at LAMDA in London for two years; she was subsequently the first Australian included in the New York Summer Play Festival. Her plays have had professional seasons in Canada, the US, across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Iceland. She has won three Premiers awards for drama, a Green Room award for Best Production as well as numerous awards at the Adelaide Fringe. She is a former Literary Associate for both Malthouse Melbourne and the Finborough Theatre, London.
Van is currently writing a second non-fiction book for Hardie Grant as well as being under commission for new work at Melbourne Theatre Company and developing episodic television with Jungle Entertainment in Sydney. Her new musical The Questions – co-created with composer Richard Wise – premieres in July, 2024 at the State Theatre Company of South Australia at the Adelaide Festival Centre.
She is a graduate of a BCA/BA (hons) at the University of Wollongong, studied on exchange at the University of Sheffield (UK) and has a Masters from the VCA.
https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/author/van-badham
