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'An extraordinarily powerful and personal meditation on race, culture and national identity.'
'In July 2015, as the debate over Adam Goodes being booed at AFL games raged and got ever more heated and ugly, Stan Grant wrote a short but powerful piece for The Guardian that went viral, not only in Australia but right around the world, shared over 100,000 times on social media. His was a personal, passionate and powerful response to racism in Australian and the sorrow, shame, anger and hardship of being an indigenous man. 'We are the detritus of the brutality of the Australian frontier', he wrote, 'We remained a reminder of what was lost, what was taken, what was destroyed to scaffold the building of this nation's prosperity.''
'Stan Grant was lucky enough to find an escape route, making his way through education to become one of our leading journalists. He also spent many years outside Australia, working in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, a time that liberated him and gave him a unique perspective on Australia. This is his very personal meditation on what it means to be Australian, what it means to be indigenous, and what racism really means in this country.'
'Talking to My Country is that rare and special book that talks to every Australian about their country - what it is, and what it could be. It is not just about race, or about indigenous people but all of us, our shared identity. Direct, honest and forthright, Stan is talking to us all. He might not have all the answers but he wants us to keep on asking the question: how can we be better?' (Source: Publisher's website)
Notes
-
Dedication: To my grandmother Ivy and my wife Tracey - white women who have loved us.
-
Epigraph:
So will my page be Colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you...
You are white -
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you...
Sometimes, perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be part of you.
But we are, That's true!
–Langston Hughes: 'Theme For English B'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also large print.
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
In Control
2021
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , September / Spring vol. 80 no. 3 2021; (p. 185-189) -
Culture Wars and Corporatism : The Cultural Mission in Australian Non-fiction Book Publishing, 1958–2018
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , April vol. 35 no. 1 2020;'In this article I investigate four phases in Australian non-fiction publishing between the late 1950s and early 2000s, focused on works of current affairs, politics and popular history. Many such books, I argue, were published as part of a ‘cultural mission’ in Australian non-fiction book publishing, where an imperative for reform motivated many publishers to publish books they believed to be of greater than commercial importance. The paper first defines ‘cultural mission’ publishing. I then argue that such publishing has played a crucial role in Australian culture wars and struggles over national identity since the late 1950s and that these struggles have played out in four overlapping phases that reflect shifts in national debate and the commercial imperatives of book publishing. These consist of, first, a ‘renaissance’ phase from the late 1950s until roughly the late 1960s; second, an ‘insurrectionist’ phase from the late 1960s until the mid-1980s; third, a ‘reaction’ phase from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, and fourth a ‘corporatist’ phase that gathered pace in the late 1990s.' (Introduction)
-
Review : Talking to My Country
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Good Reading , May 2016; (p. 60)
— Review of Talking to My Country : The Book That Every Australian Should Read 2016 single work criticism -
The Advocate : On Stan Grant's Radical Hope
Anne Manne
(interviewer),
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , May no. 122 2016; (p. 18-23) -
Not so Black and White : Stan Grant's Nostalgia for Injustice
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , June vol. 60 no. 6 2016; (p. 20-28) 'If you read Stan Grant's much-publicised new book, Talking to My Country, it is as if the transformation of the indigenous debate and major policy shifts of the past fifteen years had never happened. The strongest impression created by Grant's underwhelming book has been to make me recall my feelings when I first read Noel Pearson's pioneering revisionist account of the nature and causes of entrenched indigenous disadvantage : what a tragedy, but what a relief! There, finally, set out in Pearson's landmark series of essays, lectures and commentary pieces in the early-to-mid 2000s, was an explanation for indigenous disadvantage that enabled those of good faith to discuss the subject openly, honestly and - most importantly - escape any suggestion of indulging in racial stereotyping and victim-blaming.' (Introduction, 20)
-
Stan Grant : Talking to My Country
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , March 2016;
— Review of Talking to My Country : The Book That Every Australian Should Read 2016 single work criticism -
Goodes Cause to Look Back with Anger
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2-3 April 2016; (p. 18)
— Review of Talking to My Country : The Book That Every Australian Should Read 2016 single work criticism -
An Essential Story for All Australians
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 April 2016; (p. 24) The Saturday Age , 9-10 April 2016; (p. 24)
— Review of Talking to My Country : The Book That Every Australian Should Read 2016 single work criticism -
Stan Grant, Talking to My Country
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 12 March 2016;
— Review of Talking to My Country : The Book That Every Australian Should Read 2016 single work criticism -
Review : Talking to My Country
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Good Reading , May 2016; (p. 60)
— Review of Talking to My Country : The Book That Every Australian Should Read 2016 single work criticism -
The Reality of Multiculturalism
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 14-15 May 2016; (p. 35) -
Not so Black and White : Stan Grant's Nostalgia for Injustice
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , June vol. 60 no. 6 2016; (p. 20-28) 'If you read Stan Grant's much-publicised new book, Talking to My Country, it is as if the transformation of the indigenous debate and major policy shifts of the past fifteen years had never happened. The strongest impression created by Grant's underwhelming book has been to make me recall my feelings when I first read Noel Pearson's pioneering revisionist account of the nature and causes of entrenched indigenous disadvantage : what a tragedy, but what a relief! There, finally, set out in Pearson's landmark series of essays, lectures and commentary pieces in the early-to-mid 2000s, was an explanation for indigenous disadvantage that enabled those of good faith to discuss the subject openly, honestly and - most importantly - escape any suggestion of indulging in racial stereotyping and victim-blaming.' (Introduction, 20) -
The Advocate : On Stan Grant's Radical Hope
Anne Manne
(interviewer),
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , May no. 122 2016; (p. 18-23) -
Culture Wars and Corporatism : The Cultural Mission in Australian Non-fiction Book Publishing, 1958–2018
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , April vol. 35 no. 1 2020;'In this article I investigate four phases in Australian non-fiction publishing between the late 1950s and early 2000s, focused on works of current affairs, politics and popular history. Many such books, I argue, were published as part of a ‘cultural mission’ in Australian non-fiction book publishing, where an imperative for reform motivated many publishers to publish books they believed to be of greater than commercial importance. The paper first defines ‘cultural mission’ publishing. I then argue that such publishing has played a crucial role in Australian culture wars and struggles over national identity since the late 1950s and that these struggles have played out in four overlapping phases that reflect shifts in national debate and the commercial imperatives of book publishing. These consist of, first, a ‘renaissance’ phase from the late 1950s until roughly the late 1960s; second, an ‘insurrectionist’ phase from the late 1960s until the mid-1980s; third, a ‘reaction’ phase from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, and fourth a ‘corporatist’ phase that gathered pace in the late 1990s.' (Introduction)
-
In Control
2021
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , September / Spring vol. 80 no. 3 2021; (p. 185-189)
Awards
- 2017 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- 2017 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
- 2017 longlisted Indie Awards — Nonfiction
- 2016 longlisted Walkley Award — Best Non-Fiction Book
- 2016 winner 'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature — The Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize