Truganini: Journey through the apocalypse is an extraordinary read. Cassandra Pybus has compiled a thorough and very personal history of Truganini's life and times. I say personal, because what gives this book that little extra something special is Pybus' relationship to Truganini. As she says in her Preface, the 'rapid dispossession (of the original people of … Continue reading Truganini | Cassandra Pybus #AWW
Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta is a book almost designed to be provocative and contentious. I only say that because I know that there will always be people who feel the need to pull down or dismiss any point of view that diverges from the dominant, mainstream view.Whereas … Continue reading Sand Talk | Tyson Yunkaporta #NonFiction
The Peter Porter Prize is a literary prize for a new poem run by the Australian Book Review. It's an annual prize, running since 2005. It's worth a total of $9,000. This year, the judges – John Hawke, Bronwyn Lea, and Philip Mead – have shortlisted five poems. The winner will be announced on 16th … Continue reading I Am the Road | Claire G Coleman #AWW
Photo by Christoph von Gellhorn on Unsplash Dub Leffler grew up in the small western NSW town of Quirindi. He is descended from the Bigambul and Mandandanji people of south-west Queensland. He is an illustrator of children's books, including one of my favourites from 2011 Once There was a Boy (which he also wrote) and Sorry … Continue reading A Poem for Thursday Dub Leffler
Recently I read something or saw something about the Ranger program in the Northern Territory, which led me to Billy Griffiths report in the Griffith Review Edition 56 | Millennials Strike Back | April 2017, Caring for country: The place where the Dreaming changed shape.It's fascinating and encouraging to see the various ways that Indigenous peoples … Continue reading Caring For Country by Billy Griffiths
N.B. I selected my AusReadingMonth poems over a month ago. Given the horrendous bush fires around NSW and Queensland throughout November, I felt it was important to come back to say that this poem, and my choice to post it today in no way reflects the current state of emergency in many of our national … Continue reading A Poem for a Thursday by Ali Cobby Eckermann
Image: James Tylor, Turralyendi Yerta (Womma) 2017 Photograph with ochre & charcoal.Place. Land. Country. Home. These words frame the settings of our stories. Griffith Review 63: Writing the Country focuses on Australia’s vast raft of environments to investigate how these places are changing and what they might become; what is flourishing and what is at … Continue reading Griffith Review 63: Writing the Country edited by Julianne Schultz & Ashley Hay
Image source Sydney has once again woken up shrouded in bush fire smoke. Air quality is very poor and people are being asked to avoid exercising outdoors. It's hot one day, cold and blustery the next. It's hard to breath freely and it's not even summer yet. Two weeks ago it was the smoke from … Continue reading A Poem for a Thursday by Melissa Lucashenko
In preparation for AusReadingMonth, starting tomorrow, I thought we should explore poems that reflect Australian life in all it's facets. This week we have poet, Mark Mahemoff. According to wikipedia, Mahemoff’s poetry is 'chiefly concerned with framing, reimagining and memorialising commonplace moments, primarily in an urban setting.'Sorry’s EssenceBy Mark Mahemoff | 1 May 2012 | Cordite … Continue reading A Poem on Thursday – Sorry’s Essence
For Lisa's Indigenous Literature Week I had planned to post a selection of new Indigenous picture books, however my plans were bigger than my time management abilities!Fortunately, these beautiful books deserve to be shared at any time, regardless of NAIDOC week or ILW.Baby Business (2019) by Jasmine Seymour is a wonderful story for new parents, showing … Continue reading Indigenous Picture Books for Children
Poetry doesn't come easy to me. I often feel like I'm on the outside looking in. I don't always get the rhythm, or the cadence of poetry. I struggle with the silences and the spaces. I flounder around unable to hear the voices or feel the mood. But every now and again a poem or … Continue reading Blakwork by Alison Whittaker
Cultural warning: Indigenous Australians are advised that some references in this blog may include images or names of people now deceased.Lisa @ANZ LitLovers will again be hosting Indigenous Literature Week in July to coincide with NAIDOC Week here in Australia (7th to 14th July). Please visit her page for all the details.This is a week … Continue reading Indigenous Literature Week 2019
I've recently been dipping in and out of Alison Whittaker's book of 'poetry, memoir, reportage, fiction, satire and critique', Blakwork. It's beautiful, confronting and unflinching. But I keep returning to one poem, perhaps because of the link to an older poem that is part of my white heritage. The comparison and contrast between the two … Continue reading A Love Like Dorothea’s by Alison Whittaker
The run into Christmas and the silly season, leaves me tired, frazzled and depleted most years. This year I'm attempting a calmer, kinder approach. As a first line of defence I started interspersing junior fiction reads amongst my regular reads several weeks ago. I've been saving all the interesting looking ones for months now, so … Continue reading Australian Junior Fiction Catch Up
I'm not sure I will be able to adequately sum up my thoughts and impressions about Taboo by Kim Scott, but I'll give it a shot.Scott has been shortlisted for this year's Miles Franklin Award; he has already won it twice. In 2000 for Benang: From the Heart and again in 2011 for That Deadman … Continue reading Taboo by Kim Scott
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