Greetings/Werte!
March is Women’s History Month
There’s an old feminist joke that, where relevant, we should rename “history” with the term “herstory”. So that’s what we will be featuring books this month: the place of women in our continuing story, and books written by women about the past.
And timely for the release of Mparntwe/Alice Springs based author Eleanor Hogan's Into the Loneliness: The unholy alliance of Ernestine Hill and Daisy Bates
Postscript. In fact, the word “history”, which comes from the Ancient Greek and Latin, has nothing to do with gender. Indeed, the Greek historia "a learning or knowing by inquiry; an account of one's inquiries; knowledge, account, historical account, record, narrative," from historein "be witness or expert …” was around centuries before Old German and Old English came up with “his” and “her”! Indeed, in Latin we see the word as feminine “historia” … and in modern Italian the “hi” has been dropped completely: La Storia. Let’s give it to the Italians for getting the story right!
Coming up: a literary milestone for Bruce Pascoe and Dark Emu.
Tomorrow, March 1st will see the 7th anniversary of the first publication of Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe. Published by Broome-based Magabala Books, it started slowly but over that time has been re-printed an astonishing 40 times—not counting the young learner’s version that has also been taken up by many of our readers, Young Dark Emu. Both books continue to be strongly supported by our readers.
From the Magabala site:
Bruce Pascoe has published widely in both adult and young adult literature. He has won numerous awards, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Award for Young Dark Emu (Magabala Books 2019), New South Wales Premier’s Book of the Year Award in 2016 for Dark Emu (Magabala Books 2014) and the Prime Minister’s Literature Award for Young Adult fiction for Fog a Dox (Magabala Books 2012) in 2013. In 2018 Bruce was awarded the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. He has worked as a teacher, farmer, fisherman, barman, fencing contractor, lecturer, Aboriginal language
Mini-Gig Performance
This Thursday 4th March as ASTC Mini Gig Series we are delighted to be having Xavia perform in-store between 12 and 2pm.
Click and Collect
Local shoppers - did you know you can purchase your books online and collect from the shop? Payment can be made either online or in-store.
Enjoy the week!
Bronwyn, John, Stephanie, Jo, Thor, Kelly Ann & Bernadette
Spotlight: Into the Loneliness by Eleanor Hogan
NOW IN-STORE! Into the Loneliness: The Unholy Alliance of Ernestine Hill and Daisy Bates by Eleanor Hogan is the incredible new biography of two fearless Australian women writers.
‘An astonishing true story that leaps off the page.’
– Jeff Sparrow
‘A stunning achievement of epic storytelling, historical enquiry and elegant analysis. Eleanor Hogan has resurrected Hill and Bates as Australian icons, women as complex, compelling and deeply flawed as the nation itself.’
– Clare Wright
‘A fascinating biographical study of two significant and intriguing women.’
– Jenny Hocking
The Stella Prize
The Stella Prize is nine years old this year, and things are hotting up. Stella began in 2012 with the Stella Prize, a major literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing.
The long list will be announced, along with short interviews by each of the authors, on Thursday 4th March. And you can tune in to the announcements online here. LINK.
If you are interested in any of the books announced, and we don’t have them in stock, get in touch with us and we will order them in for you!
Poetry meets Animation
Fortune Poems, www.fortunepoems.com are short animated poems made by Christopher Brocklebank (Words and Music) and Tim Adlide (Animation). When you visit the site you get to choose your own fortune poem. You can also subscribe, for free, and on every full moon you will receive your own new fortune poem.
“I enjoy the innocent wisdom in Christopher’s poems and voice, I try to meet that with a simple and timeless design. It helps occasionally to keep Christopher off the streets and me out of the bush.” Tim
Author Talk: Growing up Disabled in Australia
Growing Up Disabled in Australia edited by Carly Findlay OAM
We mentioned this great book a couple of weeks back, and there’s been a lot of interest. As a bonus, a small, independent, family-run local bookshop in Western Australia—Rabble Books & Games—is hosting a Zoom event with the editor of the book, Carly Findlay OAM, as she talks to Marla Bishop, Patrick Gunasekera and Sandi Parsons, about their contributions to the book. It will be AUSLAN interpreted and auto-captioned.
To get an invitation to join the event on Thursday 4th March:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/growing-up-disabled-in-australia-tickets-141925187055
