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Pack of eight First Nations Classics:
Series two

by

The First Nations Classics: Series Two welcomes eight more titles to this line-up of iconic Indigenous voices that have shaped this country's literary landscape.

Get a free tote bag when you buy a First Nations Classics book pack.

A$150.00
(Paperback)
Dispatched 7-10 business days
Overview

This second release of First Nations Classics ranges across genres, including novels, memoir and poetry, and features new introductions by some of today's most prominent First Nations writers. Showcasing a number of Unaipon Award winners, the series is inspired by the richness and cultural importance of First Nations writing, and the longstanding role UQP has had in publishing those works. It aims to bring new readers and renewed attention to some brilliant, timeless books that are as important, engaging and relevant today as they ever were on first publication.

This pack of First Nations Classics includes:

Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling
by Larissa Behrendt, introduced by Fiona Foley

Dreaming in the Urban Areas
by Lisa Bellear, introduced by Kirli Saunders

Bitin' Back
by Vivienne Cleven, introduced by Melissa Lucashenko

Mazin Grace
by Dylan Coleman, introduced by Claire G Coleman

Is That You, Ruthie?
by Ruth Hegarty, introduced by Jackie Huggins

Me, Antman & Fleabag
by Gayle Kennedy, introduced by Jared Thomas

Smoke Encrypted Whispers
by Samuel Wagan Watson, introduced by Tony Birch

Plains of Promise
by Alexis Wright, introduced by Mykaela Saunders

Details
Larissa Behrendt

Larissa Behrendt

Larissa is the author of three novels: Home, which won the 2002 David Unaipon Award and the regional Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book; Legacy, which won the 2010 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and After Story, shortlisted for the Indigenous Writers' Prize at the 2022 NSW Premier's Literary Award, General Fiction Book of the Year at the 2022 ABIAs and Nielsen Adult Fiction Book of the Year at the 2022 ABA Booksellers' Choice Awards, and longlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award. She has published numerous books on Indigenous legal issues; her most recent non-fiction book is Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling. She was awarded the 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year award and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. Larissa wrote and directed the feature films, After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed and has written and produced several short films. In 2018 she won the Australian Directors’ Guild Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Feature and in 2020 the AACTA for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television. She is the host of Speaking Out on ABC radio and is Distinguished Professor at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.

Lisa Bellear

Lisa Bellear (1961-2006) was a Goenpul woman of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah, Queensland. She was a respected poet, photographer, activist, spokeswoman, dramatist, comedian and broadcaster. Her work in social justice, campaigning for equality and Indigenous rights, and her contribution to Indigenous writing, academia and the arts had a huge impact on many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Notably, Lisa was a presenter on Melbourne's 3CR radio network's Not Another Koori Show, and performed her poetry in Australia, North America and across Europe. Dreaming in the Urban Areas was her first, and only, published poetry collection.

Vivienne Cleven

Vivienne Cleven

Vivienne Cleven was born in 1968 in Surat and grew up in western Queensland, homeland of her Aboriginal heritage. She left school at thirteen to work with her father as a jillaroo: building fences, mustering cattle, and working at various jobs on stations throughout Queensland and New South Wales.

In 2000, with the manuscript Bitin' Back, Vivienne entered and won the David Unaipon Award. In demand at literary events and workshops, she has published articles and fiction in anthologies, magazines and journals. Her second novel was Her Sister’s Eye. Vivienne lives in the bush, is studying her PhD and is working on her latest novel.

Dylan Coleman

Dylan Coleman

Dylan Coleman is a Kokatha Aboriginal-Greek woman from the far west coast of South Australia. She is the award-winning author of Mazin Grace and has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Adelaide, where she teaches Indigenous health at Yaitya Purruna Indigenous Health Unit. Mazin Grace won the David Unaipon Award in 2011, and was longlisted for the Stella Prize in 2013, and shortlisted for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize. Dylan lives in Adelaide with her son and they enjoy training together in Brazilian jujitsu. She has worked for over twenty years across Aboriginal education, health, land rights, and the arts, with a focus on Aboriginal community engagement and social justice.

Ruth Hegarty

Ruth Hegarty

Ruth Hegarty won the 1998 David Unaipon Award for her manuscript Is That You, Ruthie? Her sequel memoir, Bittersweet Journey (UQP, 2003), recounts her life after Cherbourg Mission as a wife, mother and advocate for the Indigenous community. She has raised a family of eight children and lives in Brisbane.

In 1998 Ruth was awarded the Premier's Award for Queensland Seniors for outstanding service to the community. She is a recognised public speaker and leader and has lectured at many educational institutions including the Australian Catholic University. Her advocacy in the 'Stolen Wages' campaigns and recognition for her dormitory sisters in Cherbourg knows no bounds. In 2010 Ruth received 'The Queensland Greats' Award for 40 years of involvement in Indigenous issues and programs; and in 2014 an Honorary Doctorate from the Australian Catholic University in recognition of her contributions to Australian literature, Indigenous Education and Community Leadership.

In 2023 the adaption of Is That You, Ruthie for the stage takes her story to another level and hopefully shines a spotlight on the impact of the Aboriginal Protection Acts on the lives of her people who were caught in an unjust system of protection, segregation and assimilation.

Gayle Kennedy

Gayle Kennedy is a member of the Wongaiibon Clan of NSW and was the Indigenous Issues editor and writer for Streetwise Comics from 1995-1998. In 2005 her poetry manuscript 'Koori Girl Goes Shoppin'' was shortlisted for the David Unaipon Award, and in 2006 she won the David Unaipon Award for Me, Antman & Fleabag, which was shortlisted for a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, a Deadly Award and was commended in the Kate Challis RAKA Award. Gayle has published eleven children's books as part of the Yarning Strong (OUP) series, and six of these were nominated for the 2011 Deadly Award for Achievement in Literature.

Gayle runs writing workshops and has presented at writers festivals, schools and NAIDOC events, and has spoken nationally and internationally on her experience with disability. She was commissioned by Red Room Poetry to write a poem for the Carved Trees Exhibition at the State Library of NSW.

Samuel Wagan Watson
Photo by Samuel's ex partner

Samuel Wagan Watson

Hailing from the honourable ancestors of the Birra-Gubba, Mununjali, Germanic and Gaelic peoples, Samuel Wagan Watson grew up in a family of accomplished authors, political players, entrepreneurs, academics, artists and raconteurs. His collection of poetry Of Muse, Meandering and Midnight won the 1999 David Unaipon Award for unpublished Indigenous writers. Since then he has written Hotel Bone (2001); Itinerant Blues (2002); Smoke Encrypted Whispers (2004), which won the 2005 New South Wales Premier’s Book of the Year and the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry and the New South Wales Premier's Book of the Year; The Curse Words (2011); and Love Poems and Death Threats (2014), which won the 2016 Scanlon Award for Indigenous Poetry and was shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. His work has been translated into seven languages, inspired various musical compositions, and has been the subject of film and television productions and visual art projects. In 2018 Samuel was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award.

Alexis Wright
Photo by Lily Sawenko

Alexis Wright

Alexis Wright is a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The author of the prize-winning novels Plains of Promise and Carpentaria as well as The Swan Book Wright has also published three works of non-fiction: Take Power, an oral history of the Central Land Council; Grog War, a study of alcohol abuse in the Northern Territory; and Tracker, an award-winning collective memoir of Aboriginal leader, Tracker Tilmouth. Her books have been published widely overseas, including in China, the US, the UK, Italy, France and Poland. She held the position of Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne from 2017-2022. Wright is the only author to win both the Miles Franklin Award (in 2007 for Carpentaria) and the Stella Prize (in 2018 for Tracker). Her latest novel is Praiseworthy, which received the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction in 2023. She is the inaugural winner of the Creative Australia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.