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'From the 2022 David Unaipon winner comes an outstanding and timely collection of speculative fiction imagining futures where Indigenous sovereignty is fully reasserted.
'In this stunningly inventive and thought-provoking collection, Mykaela Saunders poses the question—what might country, community and culture look like in the Tweed if Gooris reasserted their sovereignty?
'Each of the stories in Always Will Be is set in its own future version of the Tweed. In one, a group of girls plot their escape from a home they have no memory of entering. In another, two men make a final visit to the country they love as they contemplate a new life in a faraway place. Saunders imagines different scenarios for how the local Goori community might reassert sovereignty - reclaiming country, exerting full self-determination, or incorporating non-Indigenous people into the social fabric - while practising creative, ancestrally approved ways of living with changing climates.
'Epic in scope, and with a diverse cast of characters, Always Will Be is the ground-breaking winner of the 2022 David Unaipon Award. This is a forward-thinking collection that refuses cynicism and despair, and instead offers entertaining stories that celebrate Goori ways of being, knowing, doing - and becoming' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Across Time : Mykaela Saunders’s New Short Story Collection
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 463 2024; (p. 33)
— Review of Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story 'There has been talk in recent years about so-called Indigenous Futurism. Referencing Afro-Futurism, futurist fiction that imagines a new postcolonial Africa, the Indigenous version imagines a postcolonial world for Indigenous people, a future where the world is the way it should always have been. One quirk, however, is that Indigenous Futurism leans on Indigenous notions of time, an eternal now in which past and future are mere directions. Writers of Indigenous Futurism know that it’s not only possible to imagine the future and the past at the same time, but that it is part of cultural practice.' (Introduction) -
Speculative Futures in Always Will Be
2024
single work
essay
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2024; -
Debut Spotlight : 5 Questions with Mykaela Saunders
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2024; -
Bold’, ‘extremely Fun’, ‘luminously Written’ : The Best Australian Books Out in March
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 6 March 2024;
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem 2024 selected work poetry ; The Silver River 2024 single work autobiography ; One Another 2024 single work novel ; Appreciation 2024 single work novel ; Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband 2024 single work autobiography ; Servo : Tales from the Graveyard Shift 2024 single work autobiography ; The Cancer Finishing School : Lessons in Laughter, Love and Resilience 2024 single work autobiography ; Thanks for Having Me 2024 single work novel ; Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel ; Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story -
Mykaela Saunders Challenges Colonial Concepts of Time – and Their Use to Dehumanise Indigenous People
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 4 March 2024;
— Review of Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story'Our understanding of ourselves is woven together with threads of time: a concept deeply entangled with power, culture and identity. Time is not a neutral concept.'
-
Mykaela Saunders Always Will Be
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , February 2024;
— Review of Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story 'Mykaela Saunders’ stories imagine a future where the connection to land and culture is central.' -
Mykaela Saunders Challenges Colonial Concepts of Time – and Their Use to Dehumanise Indigenous People
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 4 March 2024;
— Review of Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story'Our understanding of ourselves is woven together with threads of time: a concept deeply entangled with power, culture and identity. Time is not a neutral concept.'
-
Bold’, ‘extremely Fun’, ‘luminously Written’ : The Best Australian Books Out in March
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 6 March 2024;
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem 2024 selected work poetry ; The Silver River 2024 single work autobiography ; One Another 2024 single work novel ; Appreciation 2024 single work novel ; Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband 2024 single work autobiography ; Servo : Tales from the Graveyard Shift 2024 single work autobiography ; The Cancer Finishing School : Lessons in Laughter, Love and Resilience 2024 single work autobiography ; Thanks for Having Me 2024 single work novel ; Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel ; Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story -
Across Time : Mykaela Saunders’s New Short Story Collection
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 463 2024; (p. 33)
— Review of Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story 'There has been talk in recent years about so-called Indigenous Futurism. Referencing Afro-Futurism, futurist fiction that imagines a new postcolonial Africa, the Indigenous version imagines a postcolonial world for Indigenous people, a future where the world is the way it should always have been. One quirk, however, is that Indigenous Futurism leans on Indigenous notions of time, an eternal now in which past and future are mere directions. Writers of Indigenous Futurism know that it’s not only possible to imagine the future and the past at the same time, but that it is part of cultural practice.' (Introduction) -
Debut Spotlight : 5 Questions with Mykaela Saunders
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2024; -
Speculative Futures in Always Will Be
2024
single work
essay
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2024;