In a political system that renders them largely voiceless, Australia's Aboriginal people have used the written word as a powerful tool for over two hundred years. Anthology of Australian Aboriginal Literature presents a rich panorama of Aboriginal culture, history, and life through the writings of some of the great Australian Aboriginal authors.
From Bennelong's 1796 letter to contemporary writing, Anita Heiss and Peter Minter have selected works that represent the range and depth of Aboriginal writing in English. Journalism, petitions, and political letters from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are brought together with major works of poetry, prose, and drama from the mid-twentieth century onward. These works voice not only the ongoing suffering of dispossession but the resilience of Australia's Aboriginal people, their hope and joy.
Presenting some of the best, most distinctive writing produced in Australia, this groundbreaking anthology will captivate anyone interested in Aboriginal writing and culture.
Anita Heiss, a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales, is a writer, poet, activist, social commentator, and academic. Her books include Dhuuluu-Yala: Publishing Aboriginal Literature, Not Meeting Mr Right, and Who Am I?: The Diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937.
Peter Minter, an award-winning poet, editor and scholar, lectures in Indigenous studies and poetics at the Koori Centre, University of Sydney. His poetry collections include blue grass, Empty Texas and Rhythm in a Dorsal Fin.
