{"id":148589,"date":"2021-08-09T12:02:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T01:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=148589"},"modified":"2021-08-10T17:07:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T06:07:31","slug":"book-recommendations-from-tony-birch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2021\/08\/09\/book-recommendations-from-tony-birch\/","title":{"rendered":"Book recommendations from Tony Birch!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Tony<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Professor Tony Birch is a renowned Indigenous Australian author, academic and activist. He regularly appears on ABC local radio and Radio National shows and at writers\u2019 festivals. He was head of the Honours programme for creative writing at the University of Melbourne before becoming the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University in Melbourne in June 2015. In 2017 he became the first Indigenous writer to win the Patrick White Award. His latest book is a collection of stories called Dark As Last Night<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Tony Birch is on the blog to share with us his favourite books from First Nations authors. Read on!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tony Birch on why he chose these books<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

The books I’ve chosen highlight the remarkable range of First Nations writing across Australia. These storytellers, young and older, are working with a range of genres and approaches to craft in order to explore the richness of diversity amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers today.<\/p>\n

On Dark As Last Night<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

With Dark As Last Night<\/em> I want to convey my understanding of life, that we are all, to some degree, flawed characters. By focussing a lens on the tensions, mistakes and at times, dark humour of life, we are able to sketch more authentic portraits of ourselves and the world around us.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Yield<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Tara June Winch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781760899462\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Profoundly moving and exquisitely written, Tara June Winch’s The Yield<\/em> is the story of a people and a culture dispossessed. But it is as much a celebration of what was and what endures, and a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling and identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Too Much Lip<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Melissa Lucashenko<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9780702263040\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Wise-cracking Kerry Salter has spent a lifetime avoiding two things – her hometown and prison. But now her Pop is dying and she’s an inch away from the lockup, so she heads south on a stolen Harley. Gritty and darkly hilarious, Too Much Lip<\/em> offers redemption and forgiveness where none seems possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Smoke Encrypted Whispers<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Sam Wagan Watson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9780702234712\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

These poems pulse with the language and images of a mangrove-lined river city, the beckoning highway, the just-glimpsed muse, the tug of childhood and restless ancestors. For the first time Samuel Wagan Watson’s poetry has been collected into this stunning volume, which includes a final section of all new work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Swan Book<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Alexis Wright<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781922146830\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Swan Book<\/em> has all the qualities which made Wright\u2019s previous novel, Carpentaria, a prize-winning best-seller. It offers an intimate awareness of the realities facing Aboriginal people; the wild energy and humour in her writing finds hope in the bleakest situations; and the remarkable combination of storytelling elements, drawn from myth and legend and fairy tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside My Mother<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Ali Cobby Eckermann<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781922146885\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ali Cobby Eckermann, a Yankunytjatjara\/Kokatha poet, is at the forefront of Australian Indigenous poetry. Inside My Mother<\/em> is both a political and personal collection, angry and tender, propelled by the need to remember yet brimming with energy and vitality – qualities that distinguished her previous, prize-winning verse novel, Ruby Moonlight<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Benang<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Kim Scott<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781863682404\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Oceanic in its rhythms and understanding, brilliant in its use of language and image, moving in its largeness of spirit, compelling in its narrative scope and style, Benang <\/em>is a novel of celebration and lament, of beginning and return, of obliteration and recovery, of silencing and of powerful utterance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dark Emu<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Bruce Pascoe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dark<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dark Emu<\/em> puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating, and storing \u2014 behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heat and Light<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Ellen van Neerven<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9780702253218\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In this award-winning work of fiction, Ellen van Neerven takes their readers on a journey that is mythical, mystical and still achingly real. Heat and Light<\/em> presents a surprising and unexpected narrative journey while heralding the arrival of an exciting new talent in Australian writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tell Me Why<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Archie Roach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781760854539\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Not many have lived as many lives as Archie Roach \u2013 stolen child, seeker, teenage alcoholic, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, and leader \u2013 but it took him almost a lifetime to find out who he really was. In this intimate, moving and often shocking memoir, Archie\u2019s story is an extraordinary odyssey through love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal \u2013 and the healing power of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kindred<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Kirli Saunders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781925768893\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Kindred<\/em>, Kirli Saunders debut poetry collection, is a pleasure to lose yourself in. Kirli has a keen eye for observation, humour and big themes that surround Love\/Connection\/Loss in an engaging style, complemented by evocative and poignant imagery. It talks to identity, culture, community and the role of Earth as healer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"First<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Books by Tara June Winch, Ellen van Neerven, Archie Roach and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":148620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[6677],"tags":[440,13083,12907,861,9218,13409,9217,12840,11407,10290,13412,13082,3081,13413,12909,3635,13411,13410,5151,12906,5999,10082,6221,9914],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Tony-Birch-blog-social-440-x-220.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148589"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148796,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148589\/revisions\/148796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}