Nardi Simpson

Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay writer, musician, composer, and performer from the freshwater plains of north-west New South Wales. A founding member of Indigenous folk duo Stiff Gins, Nardi has performed nationally and internationally for over two decades. As a composer, Nardi has composed works for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Chamber Choir.

She was co-author of a chapter on Ngarra Burria First Peoples Composers in The Cambridge Companion to Music in Australia (2024). Her debut novel, Song of the Crocodile (2020), won the ALS Gold Medal and the University of Queensland Fiction Book Award in 2021. Her second novel, the Belburd was published in 2024.

Undertaking a PhD at ANU, Nardi is a researcher at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she continues to explore and share culture and knowledge with her Sydney and Yuwaalaraay communities. ​