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The Australian Literature Resource
We are back on deck and looking forward to some exciting new additions to the Black Words site in 2009, including Research Trails which will guide you in your search through Black Words on such topics as: the Stolen Generations, Sporting Heroes, Reconciliation, Land Rights, Kath Walker/Oodgeroo Noonucal, Identity, Indigenous Music, Torres Strait Islander literature and trails featuring Noongar and Wiradjuri writers, writing and storytelling.
We hope to see these trails active by March or April and look forward to your feedback on them and suggestions on other trails that may be of use to your own research and reading interests.
We’re also aiming to set up a Black Words MySpace page in the next couple of months as we recognise the value of connecting with the numerous Indigenous and general literary bodies on-line around the world. Stay tuned for that one also.
This year will also see a focus on developing the information Black Words has on Storytellers. We are keen to hear about storytellers who may not have been published but who are active in communities around the country working with narratives of country and Dreaming or any other area that engages listening. Here at Black Words we recognise that it is not only those who write who pass on stories but that oral narratives form an important aspect of Indigenous culture. We’d love to hear from storytellers and community members who can provide us with information on people who carry the storytelling tradition on in their communities.
Email us on info-austlit@austlit.edu.au or use the Black Words feedback form.
At the end of last year I celebrated the French release of my kid’s novel Who Am I? The diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937 – a story about the Stolen Generations. I was fortunate to speak about it at Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, and in November at the Tahiti Book Fair, where French and Tahitian students are reading it schools.
In January, I will be presenting Black Words to students in the “Literary Foundations ‘What’s been written?’” course at New York University, Greenwich Village, NYC. I aim to excite them with what we have to offer on our site, which is currently over 2000 indexed writers and storytellers (as at 11/1/09)!
I’ve also been busy reading, writing and being inspired by various book projects at the community level including the wordUP project with some of Australia’s newest and youngest authors, many of them Kooris. You can read about them and more at my blog at: http://anitaheissblog.blogspot.com/
This year I was able to represent Black Words and AustLit at the World Indigenous People’s Conference on Education in Melbourne http://www.wipce2008.com/. It was great to be at the AustLit stall in the Exhibition Hall. To my left there was an Indigenous employment booth and to my right was the University of Minnesota Duluth. Across the aisle was Inception Strategies, who apparently gave away over 2000 copies of their brightly coloured comics. I really liked their comic Brotherboy and Sistergirl – who received special abilities from their grandmother to protect their community from the evil Yonguldi. The Maori women three stalls down got out a guitar and had a sing-a-long in their own language which drew a large crowd of people wielding digital video cameras. Another crowd pleaser was the Maori Tattooist stall – where people could get a Traditional Maori Tatt.
People of all nations were interested in Black Words. I spoke to a Cree man, a South African woman, several Maori people, Hawaiian teenagers and Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians from all over country. There were students, workers, mothers, fathers, babies, elders; all enjoying themselves in the Exhibition Hall. Most people were drawn into the AustLit stall by the Black Words poster and the picture of Alexis Wright on it. They were surprised to hear we had nearly 2000 indexed authors and their works
I’ve been reading also, and the last book I read was Digger J. Jones by Richard J. Frankland. It was good for a giggle as you follow Digger and his antics throughout the book. Written in dairy form, the reader gets small snippets of Digger’s life, his family and the world around him. Digger J. Jones – was included in the 2008 Victorian Reading Challenge for year 5-6 boys. A great Christmas buy for young and old.
Black Words has an evolving calendar of events, because many of the significant dates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are the subject of some of the writing or author records listed in the Black Words subset. When you check it out, you will see that you can click on the time line to see what happened in a particular historical period and then check out the content in Black Words. Let us know what you think about it. Or if you wish to see another event listed let us know. Email: info-austlit@austlit.edu.au or fill in the Black Words feedback form.
Black Words has an extensive hotlink list so you can easily access information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers, books and other arts and cultural activities. If you want to hotlink to us, or are an agency or individual writer or publisher etc, please drop us a line at info-austlit@austlit.edu.au or fill in the Black Words feedback form.
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