AustLit

The life and death of the legendary lead singer of INXS, as remembered by his sister He died at only 37 but his fans are legion. INXS singer/songwriter Michael Hutchence was the celebrated frontman of a band that was the biggest in the world. Michael's big sister, Tina, adored him from the start and remained Michael's trusted confidant until his sudden death.

'Tina's intimate and detailed telling of her brother's story—from faltering teenager with a lisp to raging rock star—blazes with love and adventure, and includes the acquired brain injury that changed everything for Michael; the risky schemes that saw him named in the Paradise Papers exposé of 2017; his secret philanthropy in support of East Timor; and his bliss at the birth of his only child, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. A cry from the heart celebrating the 'lost boy of INXS', this personal and heartfelt biography reveals the incredible rollercoaster life of Australia's most enduring superstar and shares the private moments of an adored brother, son and father.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Much of Lisa Bellear’s poetry is politics made eloquent. In Aboriginal Country many poems seem to spark with frustrated energy over Australia’s political crossed circuits regarding a treaty with our First Nations peoples – as promised by Prime Minister Hawke in 1988. Reading the title poem for the first time I was struck by its power. We are on Aboriginal Country in Australia. With subtle barbs she wakes us as to how the ‘ownership’ (via naming ‘rights’) of Australian public lands and monuments lauds absent white English royalty and ‘intrepid god fearing discoverers’. Yet in her closing lines the poet transforms this potential for bitterness into a moment of hushed respect for country.

– Jen Jewel Brown, Editor

'I am one of many Australians who never met Lisa Bellear, yet was shocked by her unexpected and tragic passing. These poems are her gift! In this collection the poems resonate her warrior spirit, and the spirit of Aboriginal Country, as was her wish.

– Ali Cobby Eckermann, Nunga poet and writer

'Lisa Bellear became a close friend when I studied and taught at Melbourne University from the mid-1990s. During that time she became renowned not only as a poet but also as a community photographer recording numerous events and people in the local Aboriginal community. Her sudden departure was a great shock to all who knew her, but she lives on in our memories because her poems and photographs are the powerful legacy she left us.

– Professor Gary Edward Foley, Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit, Victoria University' (Publication summary)