Cirrus@Austlit

'This is the first collection to span the diverse range of Black Australian writings. Thirty-six Aboriginal and Islander authors have contributed, including David Unaipon, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Gerry Bostock, Ruby Langford, Robert Bropho, Jack Davis, Hyllus Maris, William Ferguson, Sally Morgan, Mudrooroo Narogin and Archie Weller. Many more are represented through community writings such as petitions and letters.

Collected over six years from all the states and territories of Australia, Paperbark ranges widely across time and genre from the 1840s to the present, from transcriptions of oral literature to rock opera. Prose, poetry, song, drama and polemic are accompanied by the selected artworks of Jimmy Pike, and an extensive, up-to-date bibliography.The voices of Black Australia speak with passion and power in this challenging and important anthology.' Source: Publisher's blurb.

A comprehensive, generously illustrated reference work on a multitude of aspects of Aboriginal history, culture and art. Although the emphasis is on visual art and artists, the many survey entries on indigenous languages, traditions, writing and performance provide a much wider context.

The Companion is divided into two separate yet interconnected parts. Part One consist of essays by indigenous and non-indigenous scholars and experts, interspersed with textual and visual examples. Broadly chronological in structure, it contains the following sections: 'Foundations of Being' (subdivided into 'Religion', 'Ritual and Sacred Sites', 'Kinship and Gender'); 'Colonial and Post-colonial Scenes' (art and culture in different regions of Australia); 'Renegotiating Tradition' ('Urban Aboriginal Art', 'Film and Communications', 'Literature', 'Music', 'Performance', 'Fibre-work and Textiles', 'Cultural Meeting Places', buildings and architecture) ; 'The Public Face of Aboriginality' ('Aboriginalities', 'Reception and Recognition of Aboriginal Art', 'Cross-Cultural Exchange', 'The Way Ahead'). An index to Part One provides easy access to topics.

Part Two is organised as a reference section and consists of alphabetical entries on artists, organisations, key issues and ideas.

'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.