Anita Heiss's Blog, page 7

Gundagai Launch Invitation, May 13

Adapting TIDDAS for the stage

10 First Nations Reads for #IWD2021

Here’s just 10 recommended Reads by First Nations Australian women (or their stories told to someone else) for IWD 2021:

The Cherry Picker’s Daughter by Kerry Reed-Gilbert (Wild Dingo Press) Lowitja: the authorised autobiography by by Stuart Rintoul (Allen & Unwin) Because I Love Him by Ashlee Donohue (Vivid) Where the Fruit Falls by Karen Wyld (UWA Press) The Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson (Hachette) Bindi by Kirli Saunders (Magabala Books) Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen illustrated by Dub Lefler (UQP) Girls Can Fly by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Magabala Books) Day Break by Amy McQuire & Matt Chun (Hardie Grant) I Want to be a Superhero by Breanna Humes and Ambelin Kwaymullin (Magabala Books)

For other readings lists, please check out:

IWD2020: some of my fave First Nations reads

Nita’s NAIDOC Reads

Anita’s Black Book Challenge #3

Aboriginal Women Writers I am Grateful for

Recommended Aboriginal Reads

What are your recommended reads this International Women’s Day?

BlackWords Book Club April 14

You’re invited to the next BlackWords Book Club on April 14 where we will be discussing The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough. We are excited to advise that he will be joining us online as part of the discussion.

Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin man, who grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW as part of a large and proud Aboriginal family. Growing up a massive Kylie Minogue and North Queensland Cowboys fan, Gary was always writing as a child, and continued his creative journey when he moved to Sydney to study at film school. Gary has experience working in Aboriginal health, the disability sector (including experience working in the Youth Justice System), and the film industry. He was Bega Valley Shire Council Young Citizen of the Year, won the Patrick White Young Indigenous Writers’ Award, and has received a Copyright Agency First Nations Fellowship.

This title has just been released and is available for purchase online and via good book stores. UQ readers will be able to access a limited number of print versions or the eBook via the UQ Library. You’re encouraged to choose an excerpt to share and discuss during the meeting.

Date: Wednesday 14 April
Time: 12 noon Brisbane Time
Book: The Boy from the Mish 
Location: Online – Zoom meeting

Please register via Zoom and we’ll send you a reminder email closer to the date. 

https://lnkd.in/g2Q4ubH

#authors #books #readingcommunity #indigenousperspectives #blackwords

OUT NOW: NGINHA YIING DURRULGALI

Absolutely love that this beautiful book WHERE HAPPINESS HIDES by Anthony Bertini and Jennifer Goldsmith has been translated into #Wiradjuri NGINHA YIING DURRULGALI by Aunty Elaine Lomas and Letetia Harris.

Get your copies here: https://www.dirtlanepress.com/where-happiness-hides

January 26 – what you can read, view and do

I started writing this in early January and my social media timelines were already full of the angst that appears every year in the lead up to January 26. The conversations don’t change much, but the emotional and mental exhaustion that comes with having them does – it gets worse.

Tee by Vernon Ah Kee, Dark & Disturbing

This year I am taking myself off Twitter and Facebook mid-January to save my sanity, protect my spirit, and to just reflect on the day celebrated widely as ‘Australia Day’, but better known in my world as ‘Invasion Day’ and ‘Survival Day’.

I have posted blogs in the past on Why I’ll be Marching (or working) on January 26, but this year, I thought I’d blog a list of resources for anyone looking for reading or viewing ideas to help get through the days before and after, and to assist with any difficult conversations you may need to have.

This is a very basic list, far from comprehensive, just some starting points. Please feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below or email me if you want me to add something to this list: a.heiss@uq.edu.au

ARTICLES / BLOGS

The many different dates we’ve celebrated Australia Day by Chloe Sargeant (SBS)10 Things you should know about Australia Day, by Luke Pearson & Sophie Verass (NITV) OPINION: Invasion Day, Survival Day, or Day of Mourning? All of the above by Luke Pearson Hey, Ancestor! Waanyi woman and author of acclaimed novel Carpentaria, Alexis Wright reflects on 26 January in this poem Discovery, settlement or invasion? The power of language in Australia’s historical narrative Australians Together Australia Day: What’s the fuss about January 26? – includes teaching guide. 5 reasons to change the date by Mike Butler  On this Invasion Day, I am angry. Australia has a long way to go by Pekeri RuskaFremantle axes Australia Day celebrations for ‘culturally-inclusive alternative.The Onus is no longer on Indigenous Australia. Come and rise to change the nation by Vanessa Turnbull-RobertsIndigenous Peoples Day in the US

MUSIC

A.B. Original – January 26 (Official video)I Still Call Australia Home – The Last KinectionYothu Yindi – Treaty (Filthy Lucre Radio Edit)

BOOKS

Day Break by Amy McQuire and Matt Chun Who Am I? The diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937  by Anita Heiss (Scholastic, 2001)Australia Day by Stan Grant“Shame Day, My Birthday – 26 January” Ruby Langford-Ginibi in her memoir Real Deadly The Forgotten War by Henry Reynolds

POETRY

“Invasion Day” by Elizabeth Jarrett in Fire Front: First Nations Poetry and Power Today, UQP, 2020“Invasion Day January 26 – Indigenous Australia 1993” by Cec Fisher, in Flag of Unity, 1993

DOCOS /MOVIES / VIDEOS

Aboriginal People Respond to ‘Australia Day’Invasion Day, Truth Telling, and Australia’s History | Q&ABabaKiueria (1986) revolves around a role-reversal, whereby it is Aboriginal Australians who invade and colonise the fictitious country of Babakiueria, a land that has long been inhabited by white natives, the Babakiuerians.“88” is a landmark documentary that explores the remarkable events that led up to January 26th 1988, the march and its aftermath. For many people their memories of the Bicentennial are tied to the Tall Ships coming through Sydney Harbour with Princess Diana and Prince Charles gracing our shores. At the other end of the city the March for Justice, Freedom and Hope took place – the largest protest march since the Vietnam Moratorium with over 30,000 Aboriginal people serving as a reminder that white Australia has a black History.’ (Purskey Productions. 57 mins)

INVASION DAY / SURVIVAL DAY EVENTS

NSW

YABUN will be online this year.

Barraga Bay Survival Day 2021  

SA
Tandanya Survival Day

WA

Birak Concert

January 24 – One Day in Fremantle

VICTORIA

Invasion Day Dawn service
Share the Spirit Festival

Belgrave Survival Day

Survival Day Dawn Service Ballarat

WEBSITES and MEDIA to FOLLOW
Change the Date

Australians Together

Teaching Indigenous Knowledges: Australia Day/Invasion Day overview

3CR Victoria Invasion Day 2021

NITV and SBS Invasion Day  2021 programming

989FM QLD– follow for updates

Review: DAY BREAK by Amy McQuire & Matt Chun

Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing / ISBN: 9781760508159 / $24.99

After decades of protest marches, media commentary, and endless debates around changing the date of a national celebration, perhaps it will be a simply told story by Amy McQuire (illustrated by Matt Chun) that will help our nation finally understand what January 26 represents for many of us. And why it is not a day to ‘celebrate’ anything other than our survival since the point of first contact and invasion.

In Day Break, Amy McQuire – freelance writer and journalist – uses the children’s genre to tell the story of a family making their way back to Country on January 26.

The author considers the ongoing teaching of colonial history, as well as the conversation around national statues, the painful realities of land theft and stolen children, and she ties the narrative together with respectful acknowledgement of Ancestors and Country. Amy McQuire’s skill and success with Day Break has been in taking such complex issues and themes and simplifying them for young readers in 24 pages and under 300 words. But she also simplifies them for older readers, so don’t think this title is just for children.

I hope to see this beautifully illustrated book in every school library in Australia and that this duo continue working together on writing / illustrating stories that speak to the heart of our nation in a way that is engaging as well as informative.

About the creators:

Amy McQuire is a Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman from Rockhampton in Central Queensland.  Amy is a freelance writer and journalist, and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Queensland into media representations of violence against Aboriginal women. More here! Follow Amy on Twitter.

Matt Chun Matt Chun is an artist and writer, currently based on unceded Tsleil-Waututh land / Vancouver, Canada. Living, travelling and creating with his 9-year-old son, Matt’s work spans text, drawing, sculptural installation, children’s books and comics. More here! And you can follow Matt on Twitter.

Where to buy your copy of this deadly book:

Via Hardie Grant site

Avid Reader

Readings

Riverbend Books

Gleebooks

Better Read than Dead

Booktopia

Add your local bookseller in the comments below and I’ll add them to this list too – of course we like to shop local and support our independent booksellers where we can!

NAIDOC giveaway: Our Home, Our Heartbeat book & puzzle.

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Thanks to Hardie Grant and Where the Wild Things Are, I’ve got this fabulous Our Home, Our Heartbeat by puzzle and book set for kids to give away.

Our Home, Our Heartbeat by Adam Briggs (Rachael Sarra and Kate Moon illustrators) adapted from Briggs’ celebrated song ‘The Children Came Back‘, is a celebration of past and present Indigenous legends, as well as emerging generations, and at its heart honours the oldest continuous culture on earth.

TO WIN:

Tell us in 25 words or less, what the phrase ‘OUR HOME, OUR HEARTBEAT’ means to you!

On Friday, November 13, we’ll announce the winner.

Good luck!

Nita’s NAIDOC Reads

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Yiradhu marang!

Thank you to those who joined me on Facebook live to celebrate NAIDOC Week where I offered some of my favourite reads for 2020. Hosted by my publisher Simon & Schuster and Where the Wild Things Are.

As promised, here’s the list of titles I discussed:

I SAW, WE SAW – by Yolngu students and the Nhulunbuy Primary school with Ann James and Ann Haddon.

SHIRLEY PURDIE: MY STORY by Shirley Purdie.

I WANT TO BE A SUPERHERO by Breanna Humes illustrated beautifully by Ambelin Kwaymullina

GIRLS CAN FLY by Sally Morgan & Ambelin Kwaymullina

FIRE FRONT: First Nations poetry and power, edited by Alison Whittaker

MAAR BIDI: NEXT GENERATION BLACK WRITING – ddited by Elfie Shiosaki and Linda Martin 

THROAT by Ellen van Neerven

GHOST BIRD by Lisa Fuller

SONG OF THE CROCODILE by Nardi Simpson

TELL ME WHY: ARCHIE ROACH – THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND MY MUSIC

LOWITJA: The authorised autobiography by Stuart Rintoul

I also mentioned my novels Tiddas, Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms and my forthcoming novel River of Dreams. You can read about them here!

Please tell me what you’re reading this NAIDOC Week!

NAIDOC Week giveaway

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To celebrate NAIDOC Week 2020, I’ve got this fabulous set of books to giveaway, courtesy of UQP Books!

If you’d like to get your hands and eyes on:

Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko

White Girl by Tony Birch

Biting The Clouds by Fiona Foley…

Then simply tell us in 25 words or less, what this year’s NAIDOC theme – Always Was, Always Will Be – means to you.

On Friday, November 13, Miles Franklin Award Winner Melissa Lucashenko will choose the winner of this deadly prize!

Good Luck and happy NAIDOC Week.