growing up aboriginal in australia anita heiss

This book opened my eyes to something I knew almost nothing about, and it was fascinating. En masse, the effect is rather overwhelming. I'd recommend that you treat it a series of short stories that you can delve into now and then. Sad, striking, moving, instructive: this book would make wonderful reading in schools. Overall, the collection struck me as more bleak than hopeful of a more inculsive future, but that may be more a reflection of my feelings about the world as we know it. Some of these stories will make you cry, some will make you shake your head, others might allow you a wry grin at a piece of irony or a bit of self-deriding humour. While this idea is one that will resonate with many readers (all childhoods include negotiating one's own identity), the harrowing pity of this work is that the writers, each with Aboriginal heritage, have been made to feel strangers in their own place, as if somehow they do not belong to the land that is so integral to their lives. Made up of submissions from a wide range of people, the common thread that ties these stories together is of growing up marked as 'other'. This is a very important book with many eye-opening sections. provides a diverse snapshot of Indigenous Australia from a much needed Aboriginal perspective.’ - The Saturday Age Read more ‘ Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia is a mosaic, its more than 50 tiles – short personal essays with unique patterns, shapes, colours and textures – coming together to form a powerful portrait of resilience.’ - The Saturday Paper

Winner, Small Publisher Adult Book of the Year at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards This groundbreaking collection will enlighten, inspire and educate about the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia today.Ĭontributors include: Tony Birch, Deborah Cheetham, Adam Goodes, Terri Janke, Patrick Johnson, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Jack Latimore, Celeste Liddle, Amy McQuire, Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Miranda Tapsell, Jared Thomas, Aileen Walsh, Alexis West, Tara June Winch, and many, many more. All of the contributors speak from the heart – sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging stereotypes, always demanding respect.

What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question.Īccounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. Childhood stories of family, country and belonging

Growing up aboriginal in australia anita heiss