AustLit

'An engaging and suspenseful novel about one girl's experience of the terrifying Tasmanian bushfires.

They huddle low, nostrils burning from the smoke. A wave of despair flows over Tye. Nothing will survive this firestorm. The bush and everything she loves will be lost.

'It's the summer holidays, and Tye is staying at her grandparents' lodge at Chancy's Point in Tasmania's beautiful Central Highlands. But her plans for fun with best friend Lily and working on her pencil pine conservation project are thwarted as fire threatens the community and the bush she loves - and when Tye discovers Bailey, a runaway boy hiding out, she is torn between secretly helping him and her loyalty to her grandparents.

'As the fire comes closer and evacuation warnings abound, Tye is caught up in the battle of her life. Will she and Bailey survive? What will happen to her beloved pencil pines and the wildlife at risk? Can she and her close-knit community make a difference in a world threatened by climate change?' (Publication summary)

'In this compelling collection, eighty-nine writers traverse their particular territory of loss and bring back travellers’ tales. Their skilfully crafted accounts are insightful, inspiring, amusing, heart-breaking, resilient and, above all, damn good reading.

'‘This beautiful collection of writings explores the landscape of loss. It will meet you where you are. You’ll find yourself reaching for particular pieces that somehow articulate how you’re feeling, even before you’ve found the words to express it yourself… May this book become both a friend and a warm companion.’ - Petrea King, Quest for Life Centre'   (Publication summary)

'Women yarning, sharing experiences and ideas; agreeing and disagreeing; eating, laughing, enjoying one another's company; learning about and celebrating each other's lives and creativity - this was Voices of Strength. After an initial sharing in St Helen's, we met at Leprena over six weeks ... supported by Leprena staff and Glenorchy LINC literacy coordinator, Kirrily Twyford. The methodology we developed was that I tape and transcribe our conversations, then together we crafted our insights into the collection contained in this book, enhanced by the artwork of group and family members.' Terry Whitebeach, preface.

'A compelling novel based on the true story of a Sudanese boy who escapes from civil war. Obulejo, a sixteen-year-old Madi boy, is asleep when the town is attacked by Rebel troops. Separated from family, Obulejo fl ees on a terrifying journey. Once across the border in a refugee camp, he is safer but has no future—until he joins a pioneering peace education program and begins to fi nd ways to create a more hopeful life for himself and others. For ages 13-18.' (Publication summary)

"We made this book for Sudanese children in Australia and South Sudan, and for all children, everywhere, so they can learn some Ma'di language and understand a little about what life is like for children in places where families work hard to grow their own food."--Last page.

'Native American Writer Leslie Marmon Silko notes that within traditional Pueblo society, story telling (oral history) is part of a communal process of remembering, in which everyone is expected to listen and to speak up and contribute a detail or a fact that has been omitted, or to recount a conflicting version. People welcome even conflicting versions of events, recognising that loyalties, grudges and kinship influence narrative choices, and truth lies somewhere within the web of differing versions, disputes over minor points and outright contradictions arising from old feuds and rivalries.

This paper explores this way of oral history, and memory making. It focuses on accounts by and about unemployed young people in a rural community in Southern Tasmania. It discusses the way these accounts were collected, transcribed and transmuted, in a collaborative venture, into literature (to date, a novel and a radio play) in order to stand witness to a community's memory and experience and also to ensure that particular individuals not be shamed - a dialogue which includes the conflicting accounts, attitudes, opinions and versions whose effective coexistence is essential to maintaining co-operative interdependence in small island communities.' Source: The author.