Explore the very real issues of urban First Nations youth identity with Graeme Akhurst and Melanie Saward as they discuss their respective novels Borderland and Burn. Discover how both these First Nations writers use fiction and mind-bending tales to explore the impact of colonisation, cultural connections, and what happens when you take a stand.
In conversation with poet and author Yvette Holt, this session is sponsored and curated by the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN).
Graham Akhurst is an Aboriginal writer and academic hailing from the Kokomini of Northern Queensland who is currently living and working on Gadigal country in Sydney. Graham is an Indigenous Australian studies and Creative Writing lecturer at UTS and his debut YA novel, Borderland, will be published in October 2023.
Melanie Saward is a descendent of the Bigambul and Wakka Wakka peoples. She is a Tulmur (Ipswich) based writer, an associate lecturer in creative writing at QUT, and a PhD student. Her debut novel, Burn, was published in September 2023 by Affirm Press.
Yvette Henry Holt heralds from the Bidjara, Yiman, Wakaman Nations of Queensland. A multi-award-winning poet, editor, essayist — Yvette is Executive Chairperson of the First Nations Australia Writers Network FNAWN and a National Board Director of AP Australia Poetry.
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