Cirrus@Austlit

''Islanders must do everything together. We painted ngatu together. We crossed the ocean together. We settled on isles together. We took up Christianity together. We entered into new citizenships together. We became wage workers together. We lived with generations upon generations stacked in fibro houses together. We became half-White together. We got nits together. We sooked together. We stayed poor together. Together. Together. Together.

''Meadow Reed used to get confused when explaining that she had grandparents from Australia, Tonga and Great Britain. She'd say she was full-White and full-Tongan, thinking that so many halves made separate wholes. Despite the Anglo-Saxon genetics that gave Meadow a narrow nose and light-brown skin, everybody who raised her was Tongan. Everybody who loved her was Tongan. This was what made her Tongan.

'Growing up in the heat-hummed streets of Mt Druitt in Western Sydney, Meadow will face palangis who think they are better than Fobs, women who fall into other women, what it means to have many mothers, a playful rain and even Pineapple Fanta.

'For this half-White, half-Tongan girl, the world is bigger than the togetherness she has grown up in. Finding her way means pushing against the constraints of tradition, family and self until she becomes whole in her own right. Meadow is going to see that being a dirt poor Islander girl is more beautiful than she can even begin to imagine.

'Dirt Poor Islanders is a potent, mesmerising novel that opens our eyes to the brutal fractures navigated when growing up between two cultures and the importance of understanding all the many pieces of yourself.' (Publication summary)

Twelve diverse writers reveal another Australia hidden behind, beneath and beside the country we think we know.

'A suburban psychic’s ominous warning. A conversation in Yuwaalaraay. A glimpse of a shameful, hidden history. A love that moves a mountain. In this unwavering follow-up to After Australia, twelve more boundary-pushing Indigenous writers and writers of colour show us all that is and could exist in our versions of Australia.

'Featuring Shankari Chandran, Osman Faruqi, Declan Fry, Amani Haydar, Shirley Le, L-FRESH the LION, Mohammed Massoud Morsi, Omar Musa, Sisonke Msimang, Sara Saleh, Nardi Simpson and Anne Marie Te Whiu.  (Publication summary)

'Are we a nation of racists? Thirty-nine writers confront our darkest truths in this fearless collection of short stories, poems and essays from the margins of Australia.

'Featuring Tyree Barnette, Meyrnah Khodr, Adam Phillip Anderson, Guido Melo, Janette Chen, Riley Ingersole, Sydnye Allen, Chris Tupouniua, Rizcel Gagawanan, Amani Haydar, Christine Shamista, Krisneth Paddy, Ting Huang, Heikmah Napadow, Mark Mariano, Daniel Nour, Monikka Eliah, Shirley Le, Kabien Parker, Ayoub Jama, Ferdous Bahar, Ayusha Nand, Pamela Asare, Natalia Figueroa Barroso, Sara Saleh,  Nellie Tapu Nonumalo Mu, Cassandra Taylor, Noor Abuzamaq,  Dezheen Shivan, Fiti Fainifo, Elisha Toese, Mahran Asghari, Lara Ahmed, Sopanha Chea, Yash Bab, Zoyal Dahal, Cleveland Brown, Max Edwards & Sarah Ayoub. Edited by Winnie Dunn, Stephen Pham & Phoebe Grainer.'(Publication summary)

'This issue of Cordite Poetry Review in particular focuses on the racist act of Brownface, especially in Australia. Brownface stems from the dehumanisation of Black people in the form of Blackface. Award-winning Afro-Caribbean-Australian author Maxine Beneba Clarke writes that Blackface was created when ‘White performers liberally applied black greasepaint or shoe polish and used distorted dialogue, exaggerated accents and grotesque movements to caricature people of African descent’ in the name of ‘art’.' (Winnie Siulolovao, from Editorial introduction)

'On the day that Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016, four hood-rats clash in a string of violence, substance abuse and sexual encounters. This is a vivid and compelling portrait of life growing up in Western Sydney. 

'Experienced as a multi-screen installation Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls is an oral storytelling experience from the heartland of multicultural Australia. The four-part monologue weaves together a portrait of young people of colour (POC) growing up in the Western suburbs of Sydney. Presented across four screens, live audiences will experience the work from the comfort of a socially-distanced chair while enjoying a complimentary Bánh mì. 

'Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls has been created by a team of extraordinary artists and technicians, all of whom are from a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background, infusing the work with depth and authenticity. The work resonates with an astute sense of place, connection and shared experiences of those traversing the tensions and challenges of mixed cultural mores and behaviours with empathy, humour and uncompromising clarity of truth. 

'Written by Winnie Dunn, Stephen Pham, Shirley Le and Omar Sakr, with script editing and dramaturgical support from acclaimed author Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls has been crafted for the screen by Helpmann Award winner S.Shakthidharan and performers Hazem Shammas, Emily Havea, Aileen Huynh and Henry Vo.' (Production summary)

'How does one interpret the world after their mother has died? Through this question, Cath Moore makes a brilliant debut with her magical-realist novel, Metal Fish, Falling Snow. On a cross-country drive to the coast, mixed-race protagonist Dylan witnesses signs that tell her to take her mother’s spirit back to Paris by boat. For Dylan’s caretaker, Pat, each kilometre only deepens his guilt. He knows there is no boat waiting at the ocean for Dylan, only her paternal Guyanese–Australian family – their connection having been severed by her estranged father almost a decade before.' (Introduction)

'After a whirlwind 2019, in which three of her plays debuted around the world, Anchuli Felicia King is showing no signs of slowing down. The Thai–Australian playwright and multidisciplinary artist speaks about language, learning from other Asian women and how storytelling can make a difference. “I’m drawn towards muscular political storytelling, art that has a clear politics and an ethical framework it’s trying to impart. That feels especially vital in a world lacking humane moral leadership.” By Winnie Siulolovao Dunn.'