We are very pleased to welcome Dr Elfie Shiosaki, Noongar and Yawuru academic and storyteller to The Book Cow during NAIDOC week to discuss her latest collection of poems, Refugia.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Refugia is an unparalleled work of vision and political fury, inspired by the beeliar (Swan River) and the NASA James Webb Space Telescope’s first year of science, this collection draws on colonial archives to contest the occupation of Noongar Country.
As the bicentennial year of the colony of Western Australia approaches, Shiosaki looks to the stars and back to the earth to make sense of memory and the afterlife of imperial violence.
PRAISE FOR REFUGIA:
“A masterpiece of language, and a powerful exploration of our country’s history, ‘Refugia’ is a work of art that belongs permanently in the Australian curriculum and on all Australian bookshelves.” - Chloe Robinson, Mascara Literary Review
“...audacious and exhilarating...This book is itself an environment of refuge and biodiversity, an embodiment of the renewal it anticipates.” - Andy Jackson, Australian Book Review
“Framing Indigenous rights and the country that we could have against archival footage of the British Invasion, Elfie takes the opportunity to rewrite history, discover starlight, and made me wonder what could have been while staring at the footnotes.” - Lexie, Better Read Than Dead
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Elfie Shiosaki is a Noongar and Yawuru writer. She is an Associate Professor at the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Australian National University. Her research and teaching explores Indigenous desires for human rights and self-determination. She was the Editor of Indigenous Writing at Westerly from 2017 to 2021.
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