Tara June Winch
Decolonising the Shelf
I want to look closely at who we are now, where we’ve come from, where we’re heading. I want to look at our writing, our languages and our wider story to try to understand it all myself. To celebrate that great canon so many people never knew or still don’t know, the books that us contemporary First Nations writers carry on our backs – just as we carry the past, and our ancestors’ stories too.
(Note: This is the introductory essay of Tara June Winch’s eight-part series. To access all the essays in order of publication, visit Winch’s website.)
On 'Ninu' and 'Two Sisters'
Together they are two of the most significant female stories that our country is honoured to have in print today. They are epics of survival, by turns tragic, instructional, emotive, educational and soaring. They demand a readership.
In the seventh essay of her eight-part series, Tara June Winch calls attention to two important autobiographies, both published by Magabala Books – one written in English interspersed with Pitjantjatjara by Nura Nungalka Ward, and one written in English interspersed with Walmajarri about the lives of two sisters, Ngarta Jinny Bent and Jukuna Mona Chuguna.
For the Love of Our Children: from a special series in celebration of the International Year of Indigenous Languages
This is our call to action: to read these books, to support the industry, to talk about language with our leaders and teachers and the caretakers of our children. To decolonise our shelf is not to rewrite history, but to learn it, finally. Letting all our kids have a truthful chance at understanding the past and creating a brighter future.
Extending the idea of language as love, Tara June Winch compellingly writes about our obligations to future generations to honour Indigenous languages and stories.