5 First Nations Women Authors You Need on Your Bookcase
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality.
The campaign theme for International Women's Day 2021 is 'Choose To Challenge'. A challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change. In light of this theme, we thought we would highlight and celebrate 5 First Nations women authors who are doing just that - challenging inequality by achieving visibility for First Nations women through their writing.
Professor Marcia Langton - Author of Welcome to Country, Professor Marcia Langton AM is an anthropologist and geographer, and since 2000 has held the Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. She is perhaps one of the most influential and well-known Indigenous academics, having produced a substantial body of knowledge in the areas of political and legal anthropology, Indigenous agreements and engagement with the minerals industry, and Indigenous culture and art.
Marlee Silva - Author of My Tidda, My Sister, Marlee is a Gamilaroi and Dunghutti woman based in Sydney. She is the founder of Tiddas 4 Tiddas, a social media initiative, which is dedicated to celebrating Indigenous women and girls through storytelling. Her inspiring podcast can be found here.
Bronwyn Bancroft - Bronwyn is one of Australia’s most prominent Indigenous author/illustrators, with her distinctive artistic expressions creating a host of much-loved children’s books. She is a proud Bundjalung Woman who has been exhibiting nationally and internationally for over 30 years. Her collection of books includes 41 children’s books, many of which you can find in our Children’s Book section. Click here to listen to an interesting interview with Bronwyn via the Sydney College of the Arts.
Sally Morgan - One of Australia’s most well-known authors. Reading perhaps her most famous book as a teen, ‘My Place’, was a deeply moving learning experience for me, as I am sure it was and continues to be, for many others. Sally is also author to a number of other children’s books, including, Where is Galah, Hello to You Moon, Bush Bash, and many more.
Kirli Saunders - Kirli is a proud Gunai Woman and an award-winning international writer who also won NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year in 2020. She is a teacher, consultant and artist. Two of my favourite of her titles, Kindred and Bindi, are fantastic reads for teens. Click here to listen to a podcast featuring Kirli, in which she discusses the power of Language, Blak ownership and empowering First Nations youth with her program Poetry in First Languages.