'Drawing on a wide range of Indigenous cultures and artistic traditions from Canada, the United States, Australia and Aotearoa - New Zealand, skins is an exciting new addition to Indigenous literature in print. Among celebrated names like Maria Campbell (Halfbreed), Alootook Ipellie (Arctic Dreams and Nightmares), Sally Morgan (My Place), Patricia Grace (Potiki), Sherman Alexie (Smoke Signals), Linda Hogan (Seeing through the Sun and Mean Spirit), Thomas King (Green Grass, Running Water), Louise Erdrich (Tracks) and Witi Ihimaera (Bulibasha), Skins also presents some of the brightest emerging Indigenous talent from around the world. These writers have given us classic works and daring innovation; they are marking out new trails for the writers who will follow. And, as these pages show, they are producing some of the most inspiring beautiful and provocative writing anywhere.
Swallow the Air follows the life of 15-year-old May Gibson, an Aboriginal girl from New South Wales whose mother commits suicide. May and her brother go to live with their aunt, but eventually May travels further afield, first to Redfern's Block in Sydney, then to the Northern Territory, and finally into central New South Wales. She travels to escape, but also in pursuit of a sense of her own history, family, and identity.