Dreaming in the Urban Areas

Now included in UQP's First Nations Classics series with an introduction from Kirli Saunders, Dreaming in the Urban Areas is an unforgettable work of Indigenous poetry.

Lisa Bellear's poetry moves sharply between street-smart portrayals of poverty and dispossession, and the complexity of Black love, identity and experience. She reaches into the unspeakable parts of a colonial past in order to unpick the ongoing repercussions of Australia's invasion and history.

Written with poetic prowess and political bite, Bellear's work is a reckoning force set against a backdrop of urban community and strength. Her boundless energy and activism shine throughout, ensuring that each poem has a striking clarity of vision. Dreaming in the Urban Areas is an incandescent work of integrity and truth that charts the enduring struggles for survival and recognition.

About the Author

Lisa Marie Bellear (1961-2006) was of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah who hail from the far north coast of New South Wales and Queensland. She was born on 2 May 1961 in Melbourne and was adopted into a white family after the death of her mother. Growing up was a mixture of emotional trauma and sadness; both from childhood abuse and not knowing who she really was, although she was sure she was not 'Polynesian' as the adoption agencies had put on her papers. She discovered her natural family in her early twenties and began an amazing journey pursuing social justice for women and her people. She also obtained two masters degrees (Critical/Historical Study from University of Melbourne and an MA in Creative Writing from University of Queensland) and was working towards her thesis for her doctorate. Sadly Lisa passed away in July 2006, leaving many people grieving and a mass of unfinished and unpublished work - these works will now only be read in the Dreamtime. Lisa was passionate about social justice, photography, the St. Kilda AFL Club and her poetry. She performed her poetry widely and was published in many journals and anthologies. Dreaming in the Urban Areas is her first published collection.