Welcome to the first edition of Black Words E-News, a bi-monthly briefing to keep you informed of the ever changing face of Black Words, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers and Storytellers dataset at AustLit (http://www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/BlackWords).

Black Words is an information-rich website, a searchable database and a forum for communication. Black Words was established in 2006 to expand upon and update the AustLit's coverage in the area of Australian Indigenous writers and storytellers, and most importantly, to engage with Indigenous communities around Australia.

Black Words provides access to both general and specific information about Indigenous literary cultures and traditions, providing definitions and articulations of Black writing and Indigenous literatures.

Black Words contains records describing published and unpublished books, stories, plays, poems and criticism associated with eligible writers and storytellers and includes works in English and in Indigenous languages. Black Words breaks down the artificial distinction between published literature and the oral storytelling traditions in Indigenous cultures by recording information on recognised storytellers and their work.

Black Words will always be a work in progress and we seek and welcome the participation of users, community members and scholars of Indigenous literature to help us build the most authoritative and detailed resource of the strong and continuing Indigenous practice of storytelling in Australia in both written and oral forms.

Dr Anita Heiss is National Coordinator and is based in Sydney
Anita says: "I'm from the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW but live in Sydney. As an author and advocate for Aboriginal writers for many years now, I was excited and inspired by joining Black Words in August 2006. Since then I have seen the number of writers and storytellers in the dataset double! And it is growing every day. I think Black Words is an essential resource for students and teachers of Australian literature, politics, and history, cultural studies of course Indigenous Studies.

And it's also a great place to find a good book by and Indigenous Australian author, in any genre and across the vast map that is Australia. My favourite reads for 2007 included: Bilby and the Bushfire, By Joanne Crawford and illustrated by Grace Fielding (Magabala Books), Munyourbarn: Look and Learn An Aboriginal Elders Stories by Vi McDermott / illustrations by Leah King-Smith (Keeaira Press), Digger J Jones: Holy snappin' duck poo! My Diary by Richard J Frankland (Scholastic Press) and of course, the Miles Franklin Award-winning novel Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, Giramondo Press.

Stop by and check out the site, and be sure and give us your feedback."

Yaritji Green is the Black Words member at Flinders University
Yaritji says: "I am a Yankunytjatjara and Djaru woman. My mother is from Central Australia and my father is from the Kimberley. I have always loved reading, especially Fantasy, Science Fiction and Thrillers. I also like to write and I've completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts at Flinders University of South Australia. At the end of 2006, I commenced working on Black Words. Initially I worked on indexing Children's books but now I'm working on oral histories and life stories, and concentrating on expanding Indigenous Australian authors' and storyteller's biographies on Black Words. The biographies are the most exciting part of my work because I get to research the lives of strong deadly black people!

If you are looking for an interesting biography try reading Busted out Laughing by Dot Collard (as told to Beryl Hakner). The good times are mixed up with the bad times but Collard just kept on going. Her life is a lesson to us all that we can do whatever we want if we put our minds to it."

Yaritji is employed by the Flinders University Library and is working towards a graduate degree in Librarianship.

Dr Ernie Blackmore is Lecturer in Aboriginal Studies Woolyungah Indigenous Centre at University of Wollongong and works with Elizabeth Hodgson the Black Words staffer at UOW.
Ernie says: "I have a history in Creative Writing for theatre with a special interest in recording both historical and contemporary Indigenous texts. My first play 'Buckley's Hope; represented Australia at the 1999 US National Playwrights' Conference with a full Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cast. The play was directed by 2005 NSW Premier's Award winner, David Milroy. My later works, including 'Waiting for Ships' and 'Positive Expectations', formed part of my Doctoral Thesis, "'Speakin' out Blak', an Examination of the 'Urban' Indigenous 'Voice' Through Contemporary Theatre".

From 1997 to 2003 while studying and working on my thesis I worked part time as a tutor in multi disciplines including English, Creative Arts and Aboriginal Studies.

I am currently fully engaged with the building of both a fully fledged academic unit and working as a lecturer in Aboriginal Studies, as well as providing first class student support facilities within the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre.

I first became aware of the Black Words subset project through Professor Wenche Ommundsen, a specialist in multicultural writing and member of AustLit's Advisory Board, and Anita Heiss and have been part of the team as Wollongong University Chief Investigator on the ARC grant since September 2007.

My specific tasks so far have included supervising Elizabeth Hodgson the UOW's Black Words research assistant and some preliminary training at UQ in Brisbane.

Elizabeth Hodgson and I are looking at trying to identify and record all those South East Australian Koori writers together with a large number of writers who form part of the Indigenous Diaspora that also reside within our South East Australian footprint."

Elizabeth Hodgson is University of Wollongong’s Black Words research assistant:
Elizabeth says: "I won the David Uniapon award in 2007 and have just completed and submitted the manuscript to the publisher. My book, a collection of poems called Skin Painting, will be launched at the Brisbane Writer’s Festival this year (2008). I started working at/for/on AustLit in July 2007.

A few years ago I Googled my name and discovered I was on AustLit. I didn’t know what AustLit was or how I got there; and now I work here. I know what AustLit is/and does and because I believe in literature and the power of the written word, I am happy to explain it to those who don’t know.

Specifically, my role is to track down and record Aboriginal writers on the South Coast, the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra. I also search through the local newspapers for writers who visit the region. The schools have quite a few visiting writers over the period of one year – so I am kept busy.

Being paid to seek out and promote Aboriginal writers is my idea of a good job. I enjoy it!"

Yvette Holt is based at University of Queensland, AustLit HQ
Yvette says: "Hi, my name is Yvette, born, raised and educated in Brisbane, I am a member of the Bidjara Nation, Queensland north-east (Carnarvon Gorge). For all you stargazers reading this paragraph I am a raging Aquarian, through and through, water, water, water – we are the carriers of life; my Chinese horoscope is the Boar, funny that, considering I'm a vegetarian. Above all that I am a closet optimist!

I have been researching the Black Words subset for AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource at the University of Queensland since September 2006. Throughout second semester I research and lecture in Aboriginal Women's Studies, also at UQ. Black Words is perhaps one of the most exciting projects I've had the pleasure of working on in recent times. It's all about team work, listening to each other, sourcing the correct information on any given topic, and being a part of a dynamic team of researchers who respect and value your cultural knowledge, opinions and vice versa it truly is a rewarding position to be in.

For personal and professional reasons I have enthusiastically pursued Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature, the infusion of cultural awareness (protocol), information in reference to our unique Indigenous history in literature format, language, songlines, storytelling and networking with writers and poets from varying genres, for myself is all part of the wider package. My vision for Black Words is for secondary school students, adult learners and educators to maximise the Black Words website as their first of point-of-authority for sourcing literature, film and bio materials in reference to the Indigenous Australian literary content. Happy reading!"

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