ANZ LitLovers will again be hosting Indigenous Literature Week in July to coincide with NAIDOC Week here in Australia. (8 to 15 July).
This is a week when Australians celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and this year the NAIDOC Week theme is Because of her, we can, celebrating the invaluable contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have made – and continue to make – to our communities, our families, our rich history and to our nation.
ANZ LitLovers’ contribution to NAIDOC Week is to celebrate all forms of Indigenous Writing, and I hope that many of my readers will join in and read a book by an Indigenous author.
If you would like to participate, your choice of indigenous literature isn’t restricted just to Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori literature. Participants are welcome to join in reading indigenous literature from anywhere in the world, from Canada to Guyana, from Native American to Basque to Pashtun or Ixcatec. (For a list of indigenous people of the world, see this list at Wikipedia.) As to how we define indigenous, that’s up to indigenous people themselves. If they identify as indigenous, well, that’s good enough for me.
Thanks to contributions from a fantastic bunch of participants in previous years of ILW the reading list is growing. For reasons of space and time and personal preference my reading list is mostly literary fiction titles by indigenous Australian and New Zealand authors but participants are free to choose any form you like – short story, memoir, biography, whatever takes your fancy! There’s lots to choose from: there are more than 75 books by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors and nearly 30 Maori authors reviewed on this blog alone. The permanent link to my reading list (and to other useful reading lists) is on the ANZLL Indigenous Literature Reading List in the top menu.
Thanks to all those who joined in last year and have encouraged me to host the week again.
Interested?
- If you’d like to participate simply say so in comments below. Tell us what you think you might read in the comments box to help spread awareness of what’s available. . You never know, you might encourage someone else to try the book too! (You can always change your mind later if you want to).
- Bookmark the page for Reviews from Indigenous Literature Week at ANZ LitLovers 2018 (as soon as it’s posted) so that you can use the comments box there either
- to provide the URL of your review on your blog, your Goodreads page or your Library Thing page, or
- to share your thoughts as a comment and then I’ll add it to the reading list.
- If you would like to write a guest review of your book for ANZLL I will happily host it here too.
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- Winner of the 2016 David Unaipon Award
From the TBR I will be reading some titles I’ve been hoarding for a while. From Australia, I’ll be choosing from:
- Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country by Bruce Pascoe of the Bunurong people
- Dancing Home by Paul Collis, a Barkindji man, born in Bourke in far western NSW on the Darling River
- Yijarni, True Stories from Gurindji Country edited by Erika Charola and Felicity Meakins
- Tracker by Alexis Wright, a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria
and from New Zealand
- The Uncle’s Story by Witi Ihimaera of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki descent
- Once Were Warriors by Alan Duff of Ngāti Rangitihi and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent
- Ned And Katina: A True Love Story by Patricia Grace of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa descent
- Bloom by Kelly Ana Morey of Ngati Kuri, Te Rarawa and Te Aupouri descent
All of the above titles can be purchased using the links to fishpond, but publishers don’t generally make it easy to find (or find about) indigenous writing. I find the most useful sources for indigenous titles are
- UQP – use their Browse Books menu to find David Unaipon Award winners, titles from the Blak & Bright Festival, and Black Australian Writing;
- Wakefield Press – choose browse by category from the top RHS side of the home page (under the search box). Not all these titles are by indigenous authors so choose carefully;
- and indigenous publishing houses Magabala Books and Jukurrpa/IAD Press
PS Please use the #IndigLitWeek & #NAIDOC hashtags on Twitter.
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
I am going to re-read one of my favourites which is the memoir by Ida West – ‘Pride Against Prejudice’ published by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Canberra in 1987.
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By: carmelbird on June 1, 2018
at 9:14 am
That’s great, Carmel, I don’t know that one at all… would that have been one of the earliest memoirs that cam out of that explosion of indigenous writing in the 1980s?
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By: Lisa Hill on June 1, 2018
at 10:29 am
I’m in. I think I’d better rescue Don’t Take Your Love to Town from my TBR, but I should also read some more Marie Munkara.
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By: wadholloway on June 1, 2018
at 11:20 am
Good choices. But you remind me, it’s been too long since we had a new book from Munkara! I love her sardonic wit:)
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By: Lisa Hill on June 1, 2018
at 11:41 am
I googled and her last was a memoir in 2016. Checked also most recent from Magabala Press but there was only the Papertalk Green/Kinsella which I reviewed recently and one about an indigenous returned serviceman which I can’t now locate
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By: wadholloway on June 1, 2018
at 11:51 am
Yes, I’ve read that one (Of Rivers that Run to the Sea, if I remember correctly). Unreasonable of me, I suppose, to expect a new book every couple of years, but she is such a good writer, and so clever at using humour to teach us our own history, A Most Peculiar Act was just brilliant, I thought…
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By: Lisa Hill on June 1, 2018
at 12:18 pm
[…] For information about ILW 2018, click here. […]
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By: Reviews from Indigenous Literature Week at ANZ Litlovers 2018 | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on June 1, 2018
at 11:25 am
[…] book by an Indigenous Australian woman author, find out more about 2018 Indigenous Literature Week here, and begin your journey with one of […]
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By: 2018 Indigenous Literature Week – a Reading List of Indigenous Women Writers | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on July 7, 2018
at 10:08 am
[…] the #IndigLit Week sign up post here […]
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By: Six Degrees of Separation, from Tales of the City, to… | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on July 7, 2018
at 1:15 pm
I’m in! I’ve just finished Kim Scott’s Taboo…
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By: kimbofo on July 8, 2018
at 11:17 pm
And here’s my review:
https://readingmattersblog.com/2018/07/08/taboo-by-kim-scott/
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By: kimbofo on July 9, 2018
at 1:13 am
Thanks Kim, I’ll comment on yours, and I’ll add this to the reviews page now:)
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By: Lisa Hill on July 9, 2018
at 7:51 am
[…] the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2018 and my 4th for #20booksofsummer. It also qualifies for ANZ LitLovers’ Indigenous Literature Week (July 8-15 2018). I bought this one from Readings.com.au last year because I suspected it would […]
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By: ‘Taboo’ by Kim Scott – Reading Matters on July 9, 2018
at 1:02 am
[…] plan to read her memoir Of ashes and rivers that run to the sea while I’m in Arnhem Land (for Lisa’s ANZlitLovers Indigenous Literature Week which coincides with this year’s NAIDOC Week. This year’s theme is, appropriately, […]
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By: Monday musings on Australian literature: about Arnhem Land | Whispering Gums on July 9, 2018
at 11:02 pm
[…] has organized an Indigenous Literature Week from July 8 to July 15th and I picked one of her suggested read, Marie Munkara’s memoirs, Of Ashes and Rivers that Run to […]
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By: Of Ashes and Rivers that Runs to the Sea by Marie Munkara – Indigenous Literature Week | Book Around The Corner on July 15, 2018
at 12:20 am
[…] Indigenous artists are powerfully challenging colonial narratives through imagery, music, literature and film. They arguably have never been more present and successful in self-representation and […]
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By: It’s been a bad year for quality public discourse on Indigenous Reconciliation – Alternations on September 20, 2018
at 10:22 pm
[…] Announcing 2018 Indigenous Literature Week at ANZ LitLovers […]
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at 6:43 pm
[…] took part in Bill’s (The Australian Legend) AWW Gen 1 Week, and Lisa’s (ANZLitLovers) Indigenous Literature Week and Elizabeth Jolley […]
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By: Blogging highlights for 2018 | Whispering Gums on January 2, 2019
at 11:30 pm
[…] book by an Indigenous Australian woman author, find out more about 2018 Indigenous Literature Week here, and begin your journey with one of […]
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By: Indigenous Literature Week – a Reading List of Indigenous Women Writers | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on June 5, 2019
at 11:33 am
[…] also took part in Lisa’s (ANZLitLovers) Indigenous Literature Week, Bill’s (The Australian Legend) AWW Gen 1 Week, and, more casually, in Nonfiction November […]
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By: Blogging highlights for 2019 | Whispering Gums on January 2, 2020
at 10:01 am