Andra Putnis

I am an Australian writer with a passion for history and telling women’s stories. My first book – Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me – delves into why we need the stories of our grandmothers to better understand where we come from and who we want to be. I grew up close to my two grandmothers but never really understood all they went through to survive the Russian and Nazi occupations of Latvia during the Second World War. In my twenties, I set out to discover their life stories. I found when I plucked up the courage to ask, the most remarkable tales were shared about their lives in Latvia and Germany during the War and then journey to Australia. In particular, my Nanna Aline turned out to be a masterful storyteller! The most extraordinary stories were sitting inside my ‘ordinary’ grandmothers waiting to be told. I live in sunny Canberra on Ngunnawal and Ngamberi country with my partner and two children.