Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature

(Paperback)

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A groundbreaking collection of work from some of the great Australian Aboriginal writers, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature offers a rich panorama of over 200 years of Aboriginal culture, history and life.

From Bennelong's 1796 letter to contemporary creative writers, Anita Heiss and Peter Minter have selected work that represents the range and depth of Aboriginal writing in English. The anthology includes journalism, petitions and political letters from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as major works that reflect the blossoming of Aboriginal poetry, prose and drama from the mid-twentieth century onwards. Literature has been used as a powerful political tool by Aboriginal people in a political system which renders them largely voiceless. These works chronicle the ongoing suffering of dispossession, but also the resilience of Aboriginal people across the country, and the hope and joy in their lives.

With some of the best, most distinctive writing produced in Australia, this anthology is invaluable for anyone interested in Aboriginal writing and culture.

'This volume is extremely significant from an Indigenous cultural perspective, containing many works that afford the reader a treasured insight into the Indigenous cultural world of Australia.' - From the foreword by Mick Dodson

The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature is published as part of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature project.

Author Bio

ANITA HEISS is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW and a writer, poet, activist, social commentator and academic. She is author of Dhuuluu-Yala: Publishing Aboriginal literature, Who Am I: The diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937 and Am I Black Enough for You. She won the 2004 NSW Premier's History Award (audio/visual) for Barani: The Aboriginal history of Sydney. She is an Advocate for the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence.

Dr PETER MINTER is a leading Australian poet, editor and poetics theorist. He shares English, Scottish and Aboriginal heritage, and since 1992 has taught Aboriginal studies at the University of Newcastle, the University of Western Sydney and the University of Sydney. His books include blue grass and Empty Texas, which won The Age Poetry Book of the Year Award, and his poetry is widely published and regularly anthologised in Australia and internationally. His editorial projects have included titles such as Cordite, Calyx: 30 Contemporary Australian Poets, Meanjin, Overland, Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature and The Literature of Australia (Norton). He is a senior lecturer in English at the University of Sydney.