Learning to kick a football in a suburban schoolyard. Finding your feet as a young black dancer. Discovering your grandfather’s poetry. Meeting Nelson Mandela at your local church. Facing racism from those who should protect you. Dreading a visit to the hairdresser. House-hopping across the suburbs. Being too black. Not being black enough. Singing to find your soul, and then losing yourself.Welcome to African Australia. Compiled by award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke, with cur...

I marked the day in my adolescent diary with a single blank page; The mantle of “queer migrant” compelled me to keep going – to go further; I never “came out” to my parents. I felt I owed them no explanation; I was thirty-eight and figured it was time to come out to her; Even now, I sometimes think that I don’t know my own desire.Compiled by celebrated author and journalist Benjamin Law, Growing Up Queer in Australia assembles voices from across the spectrum of LGBTIQA+ identity. S...

My body and its place in the world seemed quite normal to me.I didn’t grow up disabled, I grew up with a problem. A problem those around me wanted to fix.We have all felt that uncanny sensation that someone is watching us.The diagnosis helped but it didn’t fix everything.Don’t fear the labels.One in five Australians have a disability. And disability presents itself in many ways. Yet disabled people are still underrepresented in the media and in liter...

What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak from the heart – sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging stereotypes, always demanding respect.