Over three episodes, host Lisa Fuller sits down and yarns with Ellen van Neervan, Gary Lonesborough, Jasmin McGaughey and Rhianna Patrick about what representation means to them, about their own creative journeys, and about the need for more support for, and recognition of, the diversity of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Host
Lisa Fuller is a Wuilli Wuilli woman from Eidsvold, Queensland, and is also descended from Gooreng Gooreng and Wakka Wakka peoples. She won the 2017 David Unaipon Award for an Unpublished Indigenous Writer, the 2018 Varuna Eleanor Dark Flagship Fellowship, was a joint winner of the 2018 Copyright Agency Fellowships for First Nations Writers, and placed second in the 2018 Feminartsy Memoir Prize.
Lisa's young adult novel, Ghost Bird, won the Griffith University Young Adult Book Award in the Queensland Literary Awards, the Norma K Hemming Award, and Readings Young Adult Prize in 2020, and was shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature in the 2021 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. She has previously published poetry, blogs and short fiction. Lisa is an editor and publishing consultant, and is passionate about culturally appropriate writing and publishing.
Episode 1
Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning author, editor and educator of Mununjali (Yugambeh language group) and Dutch heritage. Join them and host, Lisa Fuller, as they discuss their journey to editing and writing, changes they’ve seen in the industry since they began working in it many years ago, and what still needs to happen to encourage safer spaces for First Nations creatives. Ellen brings a wealth of experience and thoughtful consideration to these and many other issues.
Episode 2
Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin writer, whose debut young adult (YA) novel, The Boy From the Mish, has won multiple awards. With its release in 2021, he announced himself on the literary scene as a proud, queer Aboriginal man from New South Wales. Gary yarns with fellow YA writer, Lisa Fuller, about representation, and why it’s so important for young people to see themselves in works. As a relative newcomer to the industry, he also discusses his experiences within that, what it means to have his own voice out in the world, and why control over how we’re represented in literature is so important.
Episode 3
Aboriginal writers are getting a lot of attention and recognition for their work right now. But currently there is only one full-length work of fiction by a Torres Strait Islander person available, and that was released in 2005. Why aren’t there more Torres Strait Islander writers being published even now? What are the barriers to their equitable participation in the industry? Join your host, Lisa Fuller, yarning with highly-accomplished Torres Strait Islander creatives Jasmin McGaughey and Rhianna Patrick. They’ll take on these difficult questions, and more, including why Torres Strait Islander voices are so desperately needed in novel length fiction, and what can be done to support more writers get their voices heard.
Jasmin is a Torres Strait Islander from the Kulkalgal Nation, and an African American. She is an award-winning writer, as well as academic and editor, working with the black&write fellowships scheme for Indigenous writers.
Rhianna is a media professional with family connections to the Zagareb (Mer) and Wagadagem (Mabuyag) clans. She is Head of Audio and Podcasts at IndigenousX, an avid reader, and a champion of First Nations writers.