Hear from emerging and established writers from both today and the recent past, including Eddie Mabo, Thomas Mayo, Lenora Thaker, Ellie Gaffney, Jillian Boyd-Bowie, Aaron Fa'Aoso and Jimi Bani. These and many more storytellers, mentors, traditional owners, doctors and teachers from the Torres Strait share their joy, culture, good eating, lessons learned and love of family, language and Country.
“My people are expert navigators, adventurers, innovators, ambassadors, teachers, storytellers, performers, strategists, chefs and advocates for change. The blood runs deep when I reflect on the past and the present and imagine what our future might look like.”
Discover stories of going dugong hunting and eating mango marinated in soy sauce. The smell of sugar cane and frangipani-scented sea breeze. Family, grandmothers and canoe time. Dancing, singing, weaving hats and making furniture from bamboo. Training as a doctor and advocating for healthcare for the Torres Strait. The loneliness of being caught between two cultures. Mission life, disconnection and being evacuated to the mainland during World War II. "Is that really your mum? Why is she black?". Not being Islander enough. Working hard to reconnect to your roots, and claiming back land and culture.
A book to treasure and share, this groundbreaking collection provides a unique perspective on the Torres Strait Islander experience.
Meet the editor Samantha Faullkner, in conversation with MARION Chair, Emma Batchelor.
Tickets: $10 (entry only) // $40 (includes a discounted copy of the book RRP $32.99)
Photography by Brenton McGeachie
Samantha Faulkner is a Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal woman, from Badu and Moa Islands in the Torres Strait and the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi peoples of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Her poetry and short stories have been published nationally and internationally, and she is the proud author of Life Blong Ali Drummond: A Life in the Torres Strait, and editor of Pamle: Torres Strait Islanders in Canberra. She also is a member of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network, MARION (ACT Writers) and the treasurer of First Nations Australia Writers Network and Us Mob Writing Group. In 2023, she was the Torres Strait Islander curator for the Brisbane Writers Festival.
Emma Batchelor is a queer writer and author from Kamberri/Canberra. Her first novel Now That I See You was the winner of the Australian/Vogel Literary Award. Emma regularly writes on the arts, gender and sexuality, mental illness and identity and is the Chair of MARION, a centre dedicated to elevating writers and their art.
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work, and recognise their unbroken connection to country. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and are privileged to continue the tradition of storytelling in this place.