Aussie Readers discussion

I'd like to be able to create a list of Australian First Nations (Indigenous) authors because on GR Listopia, their First Nations authors are people from all over the world.

Please put (and link) any Aussie first nations authors you know here. Thanks.

Authors:

Araluen, Evelyn
Birch, Tony
Behrendt, Larissa
Byrne, Frank
Coleman, Claire G.
Firebrace, Isaiah
Fuller, Lisa
Grant, Stan
Hegarty, Ruth
Heiss, Anita
Lucashenko, Melissa
Morgan, Sally
Pascoe, Bruce
Pilkington, Doris
Scott, Kim
Simpson Nardi
Towney, Luana
Winch, Tara June
Wright Alexis

.

Here's a few Brenda (might not have listed all their books):

Anita Heiss - Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia, Tiddas

Sally Morgan - My Place, Heartsick for Country: Stories of Love, Spirit and Creation, The Art of Sally Morgan, Speaking from the Heart

Stan Grant - Talking To My Country

Bruce Pascoe - Dark Emu

Melissa Lucashenko - Too Much Lip

Tara June Winch - The Yield

Tony Birch - The White Girl, Ghost River, Blood

Here are a few more from my GR shelves (I've double checked they are all indigenous):

Ruth Hegarty - Is That You, Ruthie?

Kim Scott - Taboo, That Deadman Dance

Leah Purcell - The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson

Ambelin Kwaymullina - The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, The Disappearance of Ember Crow, Living on Stolen Land, Catching Teller Crow + some children's books

Thanks so much Carolyn - yes, they have to be double checked as a lot I have on my Indigenous shelf are about not by.

And here's a nice list from Readings :)

https://www.readings.com.au/collectio...

Thank you Carolyn!! I should have asked you first :)

I'll add all these authors to the top list in alphabetical order :)

Brenda wrote: "Thanks so much Carolyn - yes, they have to be double checked as a lot I have on my Indigenous shelf are about not by."

I have checked all those now and removed one, Saltwater by Cathy McLennan, a lawyer who works with indigenous children them but doesn't seem to be aboriginal herself.

Brenda wrote: "Thank you Carolyn!! I should have asked you first :)"

I haven't actually read many of them, but I started an indigenous Australian shelf for challenges because I found them quite hard to find.

Are you going to make the list here - in which case I can remove all the extraneous comments?

Yes, in the first post (and maybe second). But don't remove any posts Carolyn, it's good to see the process. I'm still debating about including the books in the first post, but definitely alphabetical authors :)

I also found a list on the OzLit website but the links to the authors don't seem to work, however, it might be useful for jolting your memory for some we've forgotten about.

https://web.archive.org/web/200602101...

Post with the authors has started as above. I haven't taken any from your Readings list Carolyn, but will do. Thanks again!

Carolyn wrote: "I also found a list on the OzLit website but the links to the authors don't seem to work, however, it might be useful for jolting your memory for some we've forgotten about.

https://web.archive.or..."

Thanks again :)

Larissa Behrendt
Lisa Fuller
Evelyn Araluen

Thanks Andrea!

Andrea wrote: "Larissa Behrendt
Lisa Fuller
Evelyn Araluen"

Can you make sure you link the correct author please Andrea - your Lisa Fuller author was the incorrect one. I found the right one - Lisa Fuller though. Thanks!

Brenda wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Larissa Behrendt
Lisa Fuller
Evelyn Araluen"

Can you make sure you link the correct author please Andrea - your Lisa Fuller autho..."

The one I linked is the one I meant - author of Ghost Bird.

Yes that's the right one :)

Nardi Simpson - Song of the Crocodile

Alexis Wright - Carpentaria, The Swan Book

Thanks Carolyn :)

I think that's it for me Brenda, but I'm sure there are heaps more out there!

Mudrooroo AKA Colin Johnson

Carolyn wrote: "I think that's it for me Brenda, but I'm sure there are heaps more out there!"

Thanks for your contribution Carolyn :)

Jazzy wrote: "Mudrooroo AKA Colin Johnson"

That's an interesting one Jazzy. I just read through the profile and came to this:

"In 1996, however, journalists revealed that Mudrooroo had no Indigenous ancestry. His background was English and African-American, and his family did not view themselves as Aboriginal. In the resulting furore, Mudrooroo argued that he had been treated as Aboriginal due to his dark skin, and had in many ways lived an Aboriginal life. The scandal divided observers: some felt that Mudrooroo's contribution to Aboriginal writing, and his identification with Australia's First Peoples, gave him some claims of kinship. Many others felt that he had used stories that were not his, and actively lied, at a time when Aboriginal authenticity and identity were already under attack from white nationalists and cultural conservatives."

So it looks like he wasn't actually Aboriginal....

From the weekend papers today:

Frank Byrne - Living in Hope
He was one of the stolen generation and this short book (54 pages) is his memoirs about how he was taken from his family and his later search for his mother.

Also indigenous singer Isaiah Firebrace has written a book for children Come Together: Things Every Aussie Kid Should Know about the First Peoples illustrated by a part indigenous/part Fijian artist Jaelyn Biumaiwai covering topics on First Nations culture.

Thanks Carolyn!

Carolyn has reminded me I read a children's book by Luana Towney called Muwinina Country. The author is an indigenous Tasmanian, and as I recall her daughter illustrated the book.

Thanks Andrea :)

Hi
Also Not just black and white by Lesley and Tammy Williams

These Aboriginal authors write YA and/or childrens books
Steph Tisdell
Amberlin Kwaymullina
Ezekiel Kwaymullina
Gary Lonesborough
Jared Thomas
Carl Merrison
Hakea Hustler
Jane Harrison
Meme McDonald
Boori Monty Pryor
Graham Akhurst
Kathleen Loughnan

Thanks Clare - will add them later :)