Anna Funder on Life in the US and Her Writing

Anna Funder is an Australian writer.

She writes for ABC Arts.

Her topic is books.

The interview happened on Saturday, 25 July 2026, at 4:46 am.

Anna Funder was a student in West Berlin in the late 80s.

The city was divided by the Berlin Wall, which represented the Cold War.

West Berlin was exciting, with many artists and writers.

Anna Funder was fascinated by the fact that her friends' former lives were just 100 meters away, but unreachable.

She returned to Australia and worked as a lawyer before publishing her first book, Stasiland.

Stasiland told the stories of people who resisted the East German secret police.

Anna Funder was born in Melbourne and lived in San Francisco and Paris as a child.

She has written several books, including All That I Am and Wifedom.

Wifedom is about George Orwell's wife, Eileen Blair, and her influence on his writing.

Anna Funder is now a professor of creative writing at Sydney University.

She is going on a national speaking tour to discuss her books.

She talked to ABC Arts about AI, democracy, and her favorite Australian books.

Anna Funder trained as a lawyer before becoming a writer.

She thinks her law background helped her in certain situations.

She was drawn to write about the East German Stasi because of her friends' experiences.

The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and Anna Funder was fascinated by the stories of people who lived in East Germany.

She wrote Stasiland to tell the story of her friends' past.

Anna Funder's book All That I Am is based on a true story of resistance to Hitler.

She felt liberated to write a novel after writing non-fiction.

Her book Wifedom has a unique structure, which came from the truth she was trying to tell.

Anna Funder wanted to bring Eileen Blair back to life in her book.

She used Eileen's letters to write scenes and bring her to life.

Anna Funder thinks that democracy is under threat from within and without.

She believes that the US democracy is not as robust as Australia's.

In the US, people can go bankrupt if they get cancer, which is a big problem.

Anna Funder thinks that the rise of right-wing populism is a threat to democracy.

She believes that we need to protect and cherish democracy.

Anna Funder thinks that AI is a threat to human creativity.

She believes that art is about human connection and that AI cannot replace it.

She thinks that people will value genuine human creativity more in an age of AI.

Anna Funder loves Australian literature and thinks it's wonderful and thriving.

She recommends books like Jessica Anderson's Tirra Lirra by the River and Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children.

Anna Funder will be speaking at events in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne.

Her quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Anna Funder lives in Sydney with her family.

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Anna Funder's story is part of a larger conversation about literature and creativity.

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