Cultural warning: Indigenous Australians are advised that some references in this blog include images or names of people now deceased.
ANZ LitLovers will again be hosting Indigenous Literature Week in July to coincide with NAIDOC Week here in Australia. (7 to 14 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 Voice, Treaty, Truth. This This theme acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always wanted an enhanced role in decision-making in Australia’s democracy.
ANZ LitLovers’ contribution to NAIDOC Week is to celebrate all forms of Indigenous Writing, and I hope that many 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 to a focus on 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, (and if you want to see how foolish it is to label people, see the first quotation here.)
Thanks to contributions from a fantastic bunch of participants in previous years of ILW the reading list is now extensive. 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 —short story, memoir, biography, whatever takes your fancy! 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. (There is a list of Indigenous Women Writers there too.)
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 2019 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.
From the TBR I will be reading these titles from Australia:
- Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country by Bruce Pascoe of the Bunurong people.
- The White Girl, a new release from Tony Birch, an urban Koorie of Aboriginal, Irish and West Indian descent who won the Patrick White Award in 2017.
- Welcome to Country: A Travel Guide to Indigenous Australia by Marcia Langton, a descendant of the Yiman and Bidjara nations
- The Kadaitcha Sung: A Seductive Tale of Sorcery, Eroticism And Corruption by
Samuel Wagan Watson of Bundjalung and Birra Gubba descent. He won the Patrick White Award in 2018.Update: 25/6/19 All wrong: The Kadaitcha Sung is by the activist Sam Watson, father of Samuel Wagan Watson and (according to Wikipedia) he won the National Indigenous Writer of the Year Award for it in 1991.
and from New Zealand
- The Uncle’s Story by Witi Ihimaera of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki descent
- Ned And Katina: A True Love Story by Patricia Grace of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa descent
Most 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
(There is, of course, AustLit’s Black Words, but there’s not much point in me supplying a link to a subscription-only resource.)
PS Please use the #IndigLitWeek & #NAIDOC2019 hashtags on Twitter.
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
[…] For information about ILW 2019, click here. […]
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By: Reviews from Indigenous Literature Week at ANZ Litlovers 2019 | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on June 5, 2019
at 10:36 am
I will of course join in, and hope to read a couple from my TBR, including, if I can manage it, a Louise Erdrich one because I’ve been wanting to get to it for years. It feels a bit of a betrayal though not to read our own this week. I’ve only had the Erdrich since 1995 so I suppose it could wait a bit longer!!
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By: whisperinggums on June 5, 2019
at 10:46 am
Sue, your loyalty to this reading week is fantastic, I think you’ve joined in every year I’ve ever hosted it:)
Don’t forget that if things get busy, you can always just do a short story.
(One year I did a post about options for the time poor, I must hunt that out again!!!)
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By: Lisa Hill on June 5, 2019
at 10:52 am
Haha, thanks Lisa … I sure won’t forget that. I might even have done that once before!
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By: whisperinggums on June 5, 2019
at 4:47 pm
I plan to join in. I’ll read Aboriginal Country by Lisa Bellair
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By: shawjonathan on June 5, 2019
at 11:09 am
Thanks, Jonathan. I’m just revising my suggestions of short works for the time poor, and I’ll add that one because it’s poetry:)
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By: Lisa Hill on June 5, 2019
at 11:20 am
Hello Lisa and ANZ Lit Readers,
It’s my pleasure to participate in the 2019 Indigenous Literature Week. What I plan to do differently from the previous three years is to read a work of scholarship in addition to literary texts. The following are my selection of texts:
• Talkin’ Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism by Aileen Moreton-Robinson
• Inside My Mother by Ali Cobby Eckermann
• Us Women, Our Ways, Our World edited by Pat Dudgeon, Jeannie Herbert, Jill Milroy, and Darlene Oxenham
My of my scholarly work and literary interests are in exploring literature and feminist texts by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. I look forward to reading these texts and learning of other texts that the ANZ Lit. Readers will choose.
Thanks Lisa.
Sonia
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By: Sonia on June 5, 2019
at 1:21 pm
That’s great Sonia, I always enjoy your insights and these books sound really interesting. I’ve written a bit about Eckerman but since I’m not confident about poetry, it’s not a review, see https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/07/03/inside-my-mother-poetry-by-ali-cobby-eckermann-combined-reviews/
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By: Lisa Hill on June 5, 2019
at 2:00 pm
I of course have Growing Up Aboriginal in Aust. which I won in a giveaway (thank you!). I can’t see anything else on my shelves except Blakwork, a poetry collection by Alison Whittaker which will stretch me, but I’ll see what I can do.
I “approved” a whole heap of Indig.Lit reviews earlier today without seeing where you were listing them and I wondered if you would also like to refer to WA playwright, Jack Davis – A Boy’s Life (memoir) and No Sugar (play) and Mairi has reviewed some of his poetry. If yes, I’ll email the links.
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By: wadholloway on June 5, 2019
at 7:18 pm
That would be excellent Bill:) I absolutely love that Growing Up Aboriginal anthology, and the more publicity it gets the happier I am.
I am ahead of you with Jack Davis because I already have your review of A Boy’s Life and Mairi’s thoughts on the reading list (https://anzlitlovers.com/anzll-indigenous-literature-reading-list/ which is guess is where you saw the links?) I’m not sure when I added them but I think they’ve been there for a while…
It would be great if you could do the Blakwork too because (as you know) poetry is not my strength and there just isn’t enough of it on this blog.
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By: Lisa Hill on June 5, 2019
at 9:20 pm
Count me in! And if WhisperingGums is heading over to this continent, I’ll aim to head over to your continent in return. I’ve been meaning to read The Swan Book for ages! And I have a couple others on my shelves from your corner of the world as well. But I might also be tempted by my last Erdrich, to finish the lot. (In addition, not instead. I’ve just put in my library request for Wright’s novel.)
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By: buriedinprint on June 5, 2019
at 11:59 pm
That’s great, the late, great Kevin from Canada always used to say that there were many correspondences between Canada and Australia which made our literatures a great fit for each other:)
I see from your recent post that you have new books from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Lee Maracle. LOL #NoPressure I’m keen to see your reviews of those two as well…
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By: Lisa Hill on June 6, 2019
at 7:46 am
Hahah Yes, there are overviews of each author, set for today and for the 21st of June, considering a few of those authors’ works, and I’ve just checked to see that a copy of The Swan Book is now en route to me via inter-city-library loan. (Also, I was sloppy with my possessive pronoun in my comment above: I’m unlearning the habit of ‘my’ and ‘your’ when it comes to geography and the concept of ownership because it can be so easily misunderstood when people’s sovereignty has been challenged on those very grounds in the past and it can unintentionally reinforce an historic injustice.)
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By: buriedinprint on June 8, 2019
at 1:10 am
I’m in! I have Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss, A Most Peculiar Act by Mary Munkara and Blood by Tony Birch.
I don’t think I’ll have the time to read the three but I’ll read at least one.
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By: Emma on June 6, 2019
at 5:21 am
Thanks Emma! Whichever you choose, you are in for good reading. I loved all three of them:)
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By: Lisa Hill on June 6, 2019
at 7:48 am
That’s good to know, thanks
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By: Emma on June 8, 2019
at 3:55 am
[…] Hill at ANZ LitLovers LitBlog will once again host Indigenous Literature Week from 7th to 14th July, “to coincide”, she says, “with NAIDOC Week” in Australia. The aim of […]
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By: Winding Up the Week #72 – Book Jotter on June 9, 2019
at 2:42 am
I will attempt to finish a book of poems, Blakwork by Alison Whittaker (I’m absorbing them, savouring them slowly) and maybe Stan Grant’s Australia Day or maybe Claire Coleman’s new book, The Old Lie….
I’ll see how my week pans out :-)
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By: Brona on June 27, 2019
at 9:15 pm
That’s great, thanks Brona.
I didn’t know Clare Coleman had a new book!
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By: Lisa Hill on June 27, 2019
at 9:21 pm
It’s a sept release I think
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By: Brona on June 28, 2019
at 7:59 am
To help me get organised I posted this today – http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/06/indigenous-literature-week-2019.html
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By: Brona on June 29, 2019
at 9:28 am
Hello I would love to join in as well! I’ll read “Welcome to Country: A Travel Guide to Indigenous Australia by Marcia Langton” and “Dark emu by Bruce Pascoe” as my reading goal.
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By: Yicheng Liu on July 4, 2019
at 1:25 am
Hello Yicheng, and welcome! You have chosen two fine books… it will be excellent to hear what you think of them:)
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By: Lisa Hill on July 4, 2019
at 9:55 am
Reblogged this on The blog of the unknown writer.
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By: Yicheng Liu on July 4, 2019
at 1:26 am
[…] With #IndigLitWeek launching at ANZ LitLovers tomorrow (July 7th) there’s no better time to focus Australian children’s literature on books by Indigenous Australians. You can find lots of reviews of these on the LHSS blog under the category Indigenous Teaching Resources. One of my favourites is The Spotty Dotty Lady by Josie Boyle and illustrated by Fern Martins published by Indigenous publishing house Magabala Books. This book celebrates the way that gardens can bring people together, and also encourages young readers to be themselves, and to enjoy odd or eccentric things if they like. And the paintings, of course, feature the dots that are associated with Aboriginal art works. […]
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By: Six Degrees of Separation: From Where the Wild Things Are, to … | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on July 6, 2019
at 2:11 pm
[…] ANZ LitLovers Indigenous Literature Week […]
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By: Blakwork, Alison Whittaker | theaustralianlegend on July 7, 2019
at 10:06 pm
[…] Australian focused Monday Musings post to coincide with NAIDOC Week and Lisa’s ANZLitLovers Indigenous Literature Week. NAIDOC Week, for non-Aussies out there, occurs across Australia each July “to celebrate the […]
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By: Monday musings on Australian literature: early Indigenous Australian literature | Whispering Gums on July 8, 2019
at 11:50 pm
[…] Lisa (ANZLitLovers) also liked this book. Read for ANZLitLovers ILW2019. […]
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By: Tony Birch, The white girl (#BookReview) | Whispering Gums on July 10, 2019
at 10:28 am
I’m in! I’ll read Stan Grants ‘On Identity’
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By: residentjudge on July 10, 2019
at 8:21 pm
Excellent! Thank you:)
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By: Lisa Hill on July 10, 2019
at 8:58 pm
[…] ANZ LitLovers Indigenous Literature Week […]
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By: “It’s Still in my Heart, this is my Country” | theaustralianlegend on July 11, 2019
at 9:09 am
My response to Blakwork by Alison Whittaker – http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/07/blakwork-by-alison-whittaker.html
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By: Brona on July 12, 2019
at 6:23 pm
Thank you Brona, this is brilliant – your blood’s worth bottling! I’ll add it to the Reviews page and the Indigenous Reading List.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 12, 2019
at 8:25 pm
A fantastic initiative- great to raise the profile of Indigenous authors. I read Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu about a month back, and started reading Claire G Coleman’s Terra Nullius this week. Both excellent reads.
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By: Andrew on July 14, 2019
at 9:45 pm
Hello Andrew, thanks! Dark Emu is a brilliant book — and a version for children has been released which makes very accessible for everyone. And Clare? Well, she is indeed a rising star. I believe she has a new book due out some time this year too. So there is a wealth of great reading out there… don’t forget to take a look at the Indigenous Reading List (from the top menu), and any time you want to share a review, just let me know where it’s posted:)
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By: Lisa Hill on July 14, 2019
at 9:48 pm
I finished reading Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu about a month ago, and started reading Claire G. Coleman’s Terra Nullius this week. Both are excellent reads with a strong link to Country. Great initiative,supporting Indigenous authors- their voices are well worth listening to.
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By: rhubarbrhubarbrhubarb on July 14, 2019
at 9:48 pm
Hello, and thank you for your comment:) Hosting this ‘week’ each year is one of the most rewarding aspects of blogging, and I am lucky that so many other bloggers have supported it too so we’re building a terrific resource for anyone who wants recommendations for what to read.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 14, 2019
at 10:10 pm
[…] angle. I’ve read it in NAIDOC Week, as part of Indigenous Literature Week, hosted by Lisa at ANZLitLovers, so I want to talk a little about this year’s NAIDOC theme, and about recent Aboriginal […]
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By: Lisa Bellear, Aboriginal Country | Me fail? I fly! on July 14, 2019
at 10:52 pm
[…] focused Monday Musings post to start and conclude NAIDOC Week and Lisa’s ANZLitLovers Indigenous Literature Week. I have been researching a topic for this year’s second post, but it’s taking longer […]
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By: Monday musings on Australian literature: Listen to Indigenous Australian authors | Whispering Gums on July 15, 2019
at 11:00 pm
[…] ANZ LitLovers Indigenous Literature Week […]
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By: When the Pelican Laughed, Alice Nannup | theaustralianlegend on July 19, 2019
at 3:46 am
[…] a stack of Indigenous picture books that I’ve read for Lisa’s Indigenous Literature Week. […]
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By: Stories & Shout Outs #25 – Brona's Books on June 9, 2021
at 6:05 pm
[…] been wondering about cultural appropriation this past week or so as I’ve been preparing for Indigenous Literature Week. Who really cares what another white woman thinks about the work of an Indigenous author? What […]
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By: Blakwork by Alison Whittaker on March 14, 2022
at 8:07 am