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Vincent Namatjira

Vincent Namatjira     Recommended by    

‘Welcome to the past, present and future. I stand side-by-side with my great-grandfather, who I never met – two painters from the centre of this country, standing up and making our voices heard. I believe in the power of art, the power of the paintbrush. I know that art can change lives. It changed mine and I hope that art can change the world too.’


Vincent Namatjira is an astute observer of life, of power, of popular culture. To be in the presence of a Vincent Namatjira painting is like being on the edge of a portal into another world. From the first page of this monograph, Vincent takes us on a journey through his artwork, contextualising his iconic series on Indigenous soldiers, Indigenous leaders, power and the Royal Family, giving us an insight into his world view.

The book includes essays by Lisa Slade, Nici Cumpston and Gloria Strzelecki from AGSA, by Bruce Johnson McLean from NGA and by Vincent’s great friends and artistic collaborators Ben Quilty and Tony Albert but, most importantly, it is Vincent’s voice as much as his artwork that resonates in high definition on the page.

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Killing for Country: A Family Story

David Marr     Recommended by    

A gripping reckoning with the bloody history of Australia’s frontier wars

David Marr was shocked to discover forebears who served with the brutal Native Police in the bloodiest years on the frontier. Killing for Country is the result – a soul-searching Australian history.

This is a richly detailed saga of politics and power in the colonial world – of land seized, fortunes made and lost, and the violence let loose as squatters and their allies fought for possession of the country – a war still unresolved in today’s Australia.

“This book is more than a personal reckoning with Marr’s forebears and their crimes. It is an account of an Australian war fought here in our own country, with names, dates, crimes, body counts and the ghastly, remorseless views of the ‘settlers’. Thank you, David.”-Marcia Langton


“Marr is one of the country’s most accomplished non-fiction writers. I was sometimes reminded of Robert Hughes’ study of convict transportation, The Fatal Shore (1987), in the epic quality of this book … Killing For Country is a timely exercise in truth-telling amid a disturbing resurgence of denialism.” -Frank Bongiorno, The Age

Killing for Country … stands out for its unflinching eye, its dogged research, and the quality and power of its writing.” -Mark McKenna, Australian Book Review

“It’s a timely, vital story.” -Jason Steger, The Age

“The timing of this book is painfully exquisite and it demonstrates perfectly how little race politics have changed in Australia.” -Lucy Clark, The Guardian

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Songs from the Kitchen Table: Lyrics and Stories

Archie Roach     Recommended by    

The ultimate illustrated commemoration of iconic Australian musicians Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter in songs, stories, photographs and tributes.

Since he left us, Archie Roach’s legacy has continued to soar, like his totem animal from his mother’s ancestral lands, the wedge-tailed eagle. Archie’s songs stand as anthems for both the experience of dispossession and our shared humanity.

Songs from the Kitchen Table is a tribute to the power of Archie’s voice, and to the love of music he shared with his life partner and musical collaborator, Ruby Hunter. This beautiful, illustrated volume contains the lyrics to over one hundred of their songs, carefully curated by Archie’s manager and friend, Jill Shelton.

From Archie’s breathtaking early works, ‘Took the Children Away’ and ‘Charcoal Lane’, to the timeless classics ‘Tell Me Why’, Ruby’s ‘Down City Streets’, and Archie’s final masterpiece, ‘One Song’, the lyrics are accompanied by stories about their composition, rare photographs, original artwork, and heartfelt tributes to Archie and Ruby from those who knew and loved them.

With forewords by their long-time friends and musical collaborators, Emma Donovan, Paul Kelly and Jack Latimore, Songs from the Kitchen Table is a celebration of one of Australia’s great creative partnerships, and a testament to the ongoing power of plain-spoken truths.

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Borderland

Graham Akhurst     Recommended by Luka    

Jono, a city-born Indigenous teenager is trying to figure out who he really is. Life in Brisbane hasn’t exactly made him feel connected to his Country or community. Luckily, he’s got his best friend, Jenny, who has been by his side through their hectic days at St Lucia Private.

After graduating, Jono and Jenny score gigs at the Aboriginal Performing Arts Centre and an incredible opportunity comes knocking — interning with a documentary crew. Their mission? To promote a big government mining project in the wild western Queensland desert. The catch? The details are sketchy, and the land is rumoured to be sacred. But who cares? Jono is stoked just to be part of something meaningful. Plus, he gets to be the lead presenter!

Life takes a turn when they land in Gambari, a tiny rural town far from the hustle and bustle of the city. Suddenly, Jono’s intuition becomes his best guide. He’s haunted by an eerie omen of death, battling suffocating panic attacks, and even experiencing visions of Wudun — a malevolent spirit from the Dreaming. What’s the real story behind the gas mining venture? Are the documentary crew hiding something from Jono? And could Wudun be a messenger from the land, fighting back against the invasion?

Borderland is a heart-pounding horror gothic that follows Jono on an epic quest to find himself in the face of unbelievable challenges. Graham Akhurst, the brilliant mind behind this coming-of-age gem, is a Fulbright scholar from the Kokomini of Northern Queensland. Brace yourself for a fresh, mind-bending tale exploring Indigenous identity, the impact of colonization, and what happens when you take a stand.

Age range 13+

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Underworlds: A compelling journey through subterranean realms, real and imagined

Stephen Ellcock     Recommended by    

A darkly evocative compendium of images exploring natural, constructed, imaginary and subconscious underworlds, curated by renowned image collector and social media figure Stephen Ellcock.

From the burrows and secret bunkers beneath our feet to imagined hellscapes and surrealist dreamscapes, the disquieting, alarming and wonderful visuals span natural and constructed subterranea and imagined and subconscious worlds. A personal introduction by Stephen together with contextual chapter introductions establish the key themes, while supplementary texts elucidate essential concepts, historical events and figures. Thought-provoking literary, philosophical and spiritual quotations punctuate the intriguing images.

Together, the images and authoritative text highlight the interplay between the real and the imagined, revealing how the real has fed our fears and hopes and informed our imagination – and conversely, how our imagination has depicted the esoteric, the abject and the unknown.

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Wonder Confronts Certainty: Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter

Gary Saul Morson     Recommended by    

A noted literary scholar traverses the Russian canon, exploring how realists, idealists, and revolutionaries debated good and evil, moral responsibility, and freedom.

Since the age of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov, Russian literature has posed questions about good and evil, moral responsibility, and human freedom with a clarity and intensity found nowhere else. In this wide-ranging meditation, Gary Saul Morson delineates intellectual debates that have coursed through two centuries of Russian writing, as the greatest thinkers of the empire and then the Soviet Union enchanted readers with their idealism, philosophical insight, and revolutionary fervor.

Morson describes the Russian literary tradition as an argument between a radical intelligentsia that uncompromisingly followed ideology down the paths of revolution and violence, and writers who probed ever more deeply into the human condition. The debate concerned what Russians called “the accursed questions”: If there is no God, are good and evil merely human constructs? Should we look for life’s essence in ordinary or extreme conditions? Are individual minds best understood in terms of an overarching theory or, as Tolstoy thought, by tracing the “tiny alternations of consciousness”?

Exploring apologia for bloodshed, Morson adapts Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the non-alibi-the idea that one cannot escape or displace responsibility for one’s actions. And, throughout, Morson isolates a characteristic theme of Russian culture: how the aspiration to relieve profound suffering can lead to either heartfelt empathy or bloodthirsty tyranny. What emerges is a contest between unyielding dogmatism and open-minded dialogue, between heady certainty and a humble sense of wonder at the world’s elusive complexity-a thought-provoking journey into inescapable questions.

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Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism and Minding Other People’s Business

Roxane Gay     Recommended by    

‘Gay has an ability to blend the personal and political in a way that feels simultaneously gentle and brutal . . . you look at a cultural moment through Gay’s eyes and, by the end, you see the world differently’ Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian


Since the publication of the groundbreaking Bad Feminist and Hunger, Roxane Gay has continued to tackle the big issues embroiling society – state-sponsored violence and mass shootings, women’s rights post-Dobbs, online disinformation, and the limits of empathy – alongside more individual matters: Can I tell my coworker her perfume makes me sneeze? Is it acceptable to schedule a daily eight a.m. meeting? In her role as a New York Times contributing opinion writer and the publication’s “Work Friend” columnist, she reaches millions of readers with her wise voice and sharp insights.

With an introduction in which Gay provides the connective tissues that link her groundbreaking writing, Opinions is a collection of Roxane Gay’s best nonfiction pieces from the past ten years, addressing a wide range of topics – politics, the culture wars, civil rights, celebrities, and much more. Offering nuanced analysis that never shies away from difficult topics, this sharp, thought-provoking anthology will delight Gay’s devotees and draw new readers to this inimitable talent.

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Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Brandon Sanderson     Recommended by    

‘This was utterly brilliant and satisfying. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter will be the best of the secret project novels, and it is easily one of Sanderson’s finest books in his career.’ – Novel Notions


From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson – creator of The Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn Saga, and countless bestselling works of science fiction and fantasy – comes this gripping story set in the Cosmere universe told by Hoid, where two people from incredibly different cultures must work together to save their worlds from certain disaster.

Yumi has spent her entire life in strict obedience, granting her the power to summon the spirits that bestow vital aid upon her society – but she longs for even a single day as a normal person. Painter patrols the dark streets dreaming of being a hero – a goal that has led to nothing but heartache and isolation, leaving him always on the outside looking in. In their own ways, both of them face the world alone.

Suddenly flung together, Yumi and Painter must strive to right the wrongs in both their lives, reconciling their past and present while maintaining the precarious balance of each of their worlds. If they cannot unravel the mystery of what brought them together before it’s too late, they risk forever losing not only the bond growing between them, but the very worlds they’ve always struggled to protect.

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After the Forest

Kell Woods     Recommended by    

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

A drop of blood to bind its power.

1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg. Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their father and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, though: the witch’s grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious – and addictive – gingerbread. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating gingerbread is a source of ever-growing suspicion and vicious gossip.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta’s own power – magic she is still trying to understand – may be the only thing that can save her …

If it doesn’t kill her first.


Bewitching historical fantasy … Woods is a powerful new voice in speculative fiction’ starred review, Publishers Weekly (US)

‘A dark and wondrous tale. Utterly enchanting’ Kate Forsyth, bestselling author of The Crimson Thread

‘Deliciously irresistible … A gorgeous debut that you’ll consume in one gulp’ Natasha Lester, New York Time bestselling author of The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre

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Salt River Road

Molly Schmidt     Recommended by    

Introducing an exciting new voice in Australian fiction, Molly Schmidt, winner of the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. Salt River Road is a compelling coming-of-age novel about grief and healing set in a small town in the 1970s.

In the aftermath of their mother’s death, the Tetley siblings’ lives are falling apart. Left to fend for themselves as their family farm goes to ruins, Rose sets out to escape the grief and mess of home. When she meets Noongar Elders Patsy and Herbert, she finds herself drawn into a home where she has the chance to discover the strength of community, and to heal a wound her family has carried for a generation. Salt River Road is a poignant exploration of healing and resilience, small-town racism and the power of human connection.


‘This story retains an innocence and a sense of decency even as it glides through pain, love and complex politics. It’s refreshing, and open, and kind of tricky.’ Kim Scott

‘An amazing new talent.’ Brett D’Arcy

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