I have completed my 2013 Australian Women Writers challenge in Indigenous Authors and here is the list of fantastic books that I have read.

1. Manhattan Dreaming by Anita Heiss
2. Butterfly Song by Terri Janke
3. Me, Antman and Fleabag by Gayle Kennedy (non fiction) Ed: Thanks Gayle!
4. Too Flash by Melissa Lucashenko (YA)
5. Mum Shirl by Shirly Smith (non fiction)
6. The Flying Emu and other Australian Stories by Sally Morgan (Childrens)
7. Wandering Girl by Glenyse Ward (non fiction)
8. Is that you Ruthie? by Ruth Hegarty (non fiction)
9. Home by Larissa Berhendt
10. Swallow the Air by Tara June Winch

Except for The Flying Emu, all of these stories deal with young girls and Aboriginal families finding their way in a white world. Many of the stories are heartbreaking and gave me a whole new perspective on how Aboriginal people were treated and how Aboriginal families and in particular girls were dealt with often harshly for nothing more than being Aboriginal. These books should be school reading lists. I had no idea how harsh the conditions were that some children grew up in after they were taken from their families and I grew up in a town that had an Aboriginal mission although when I was a child it was no longer a mission but somewhere that Aboriginal families could choose to live (as I understood it). But I know people who can’t or won’t go back because of what happened there.

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