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'Forty years ago, letters, words and feelings flowed between a teenage daughter and her mother. Letters writen by that teenage daughter – me – handed around family back home, disappeared. Yet letters from that mother to her teenage daughter – me – remained protected in my red life-journey suitcase. I carried them across time and landscapes as a mother would carry her baby in a thaga.
'In 1978–79, I was living in an Aboriginal girls’ hostel in the Bentley suburb of Perth, attending senior high school. Mum and I sent handwritten letters to each other. I was a small-town teenager stepping outside of all things I had ever known. Mum remained in the only world she had ever known.
'Nganajungu Yagu was inspired by Mother’s letters, her life and the love she instilled in me for my people and my culture. A substantial part of that culture is language, and I missed out on so much language interaction having moved away. I talk with my ancestors’ language – Badimaya and Wajarri – to honour ancestors, language centres, language workers and those Yamaji who have been and remain generous in passing on cultural knowledge.
'–Charmain Papertalk Green' (Publication summary)
Contents
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Introduction to Charmaine Papertalk Green’s Nganajungu Yagu,
single work
essay
'Since Charmaine Papertalk Green’s poetry was first published in The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets in 1986, her voice on the page has been consistent: eloquently powerful, respectfully challenging and true to her role in life as a Yamaji Nyarlu. Nganajungu Yagu is no different, considering, as it does, respect for ancestors, connection to country, the role of the poet and Yamaji identity.' (Introduction)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Personal Histories
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2 January 2021; (p. 18)
— Review of Steles 2019 selected work poetry ; Smoke 2019 selected work poetry ; Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry ; The Espionage Act : New Poems 2020 selected work poetry -
Anne Elvey Reviews False Claims of Colonial Thieves by Charmaine Papertalk Green & John Kinsella, and Nganajungu Yagu by Charmaine Papertalk Green
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , September 2020;
— Review of False Claims of Colonial Thieves 2018 selected work poetry ; Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry -
Generations of Tales Lost in the Mail
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24 October 2020; (p. 18)'When was the last time you posted a handwritten letter to a family member? For most of us, the days of regularly sticking stamps on letters are long gone, supplanted by emails, text messages and FaceTime.' (Introduction)
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Yamaji Poet Charmaine Papertalk Green Awarded 2020 Australian Literary Society Gold Medal
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , July 2020;'Yamaji woman and author Charmaine Papertalk Green has been awarded the 2020 Australian Literary Society gold medal for her book of poetry Nganajungu Yagu.'
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Nganggunmanha : Papertalk Green’s Gifts to Life Writing, Visual Poetry and More
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 24 no. 1 2020;
— Review of Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry 'Charmaine Papertalk Green’s Nganajungu Yagu enacts a movingly profound re-membering of correspondence and connection between the author and her mother [henceforth yagu] across 1978-9 while Papertalk Green (the daughter/gaja) was staying at an Aboriginal girls’ hostel and attending high school in Bentley, Perth. As Anita Heiss notes, this new work adds to Papertalk Green’s impressive oeuvre, which extends back to the mid-1980s and comprises bold writings that remain ‘eloquently powerful, respectfully challenging, and true to [Papertalk Green’s] role in life as a Yamaji Nyarlu’ (Heiss 2019: xiii). In line with Heiss, I see Nganajungu Yagu as a book that in addition to its vital insights about ‘respect for ancestors, connection to country, the role of the poet and Yamaji identity’ enacts an accomplished revival of ‘the nearly lost art of letter writing’ (Heiss 2019: xiii) and epistolary literature – a form powerfully deployed by feminist and anti-colonial writers including Alice Walker (1982), Monica Ali (2003) and Michael Ondaatje (1987) (see discussion in Bower 2017). In this review, I would like to extend Heiss’ point further by observing how Nganajungu Yagu profoundly reimagines literary possibilities of life writing, historical writing, fictocriticism, poetry and more. My touchstones for this argument shall include, first, Papertalk Green’s use of letters in combination with other texts, and then the poetic innovations she enacts, particularly visual and polylingual strategies. My decision to focus primarily on technique is informed by Alison Whittaker’s edifying keynote at the 2019 conference of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (Whittaker 2019).3' (Introduction)
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Charmaine Papertalk Green : Nganajungu Yagu
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 13-19 July 2019;
— Review of Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry'In this collection, which stands as an ode to the matriarchy and reinvigorates the art of letter-writing, poet Charmaine Papertalk Green imprints her multilingualism into the Australian consciousness through a trail of correspondence between herself and her mother. Nganajungu Yagu acknowledges the horrors of Australia’s colonial past while staying true to the spirit of the Aboriginal women who have carried the weight of this nation on their shoulders. Papertalk Green explains early on, “I always look back because my Ancestors lived back there”, and this theme remains consistent throughout.' (Introduction)
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[Review] Nganajungu Yagu
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: World Literature Today , vol. 94 no. 2 2020; (p. 93-95)
— Review of Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry 'Before opening Nganajungu Yagu, readers see the image of an old-fashioned suitcase over which the author’s name and book’s title are superimposed. The title, from the Wajarri language, means “my mother,” the author tells us. What are the implications: Is Nganajungu Yagu to be a book of tragic travelogues undertaken in mostly lost indigenous tongues, Charmaine Papertalk Green versing and traversing brutally colonized lands? Or does the code-mixing in this book (between Wajarri, Badimaya, and English) imply language as a portmanteau, comporting disempowerment for indigenous language users in epistemically violent colonial contexts? Or is this writer working interlinguistically against inheritances bequeathing disconnection in a monoculturally imperialized place, as if to send an epistle issuing a set of instructions on the means by which Aboriginal Australians might fight back against a version of “Australia” that historically and systematically displaces and dispossesses indigenous peoples?' (Introduction) -
Nganggunmanha : Papertalk Green’s Gifts to Life Writing, Visual Poetry and More
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 24 no. 1 2020;
— Review of Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry 'Charmaine Papertalk Green’s Nganajungu Yagu enacts a movingly profound re-membering of correspondence and connection between the author and her mother [henceforth yagu] across 1978-9 while Papertalk Green (the daughter/gaja) was staying at an Aboriginal girls’ hostel and attending high school in Bentley, Perth. As Anita Heiss notes, this new work adds to Papertalk Green’s impressive oeuvre, which extends back to the mid-1980s and comprises bold writings that remain ‘eloquently powerful, respectfully challenging, and true to [Papertalk Green’s] role in life as a Yamaji Nyarlu’ (Heiss 2019: xiii). In line with Heiss, I see Nganajungu Yagu as a book that in addition to its vital insights about ‘respect for ancestors, connection to country, the role of the poet and Yamaji identity’ enacts an accomplished revival of ‘the nearly lost art of letter writing’ (Heiss 2019: xiii) and epistolary literature – a form powerfully deployed by feminist and anti-colonial writers including Alice Walker (1982), Monica Ali (2003) and Michael Ondaatje (1987) (see discussion in Bower 2017). In this review, I would like to extend Heiss’ point further by observing how Nganajungu Yagu profoundly reimagines literary possibilities of life writing, historical writing, fictocriticism, poetry and more. My touchstones for this argument shall include, first, Papertalk Green’s use of letters in combination with other texts, and then the poetic innovations she enacts, particularly visual and polylingual strategies. My decision to focus primarily on technique is informed by Alison Whittaker’s edifying keynote at the 2019 conference of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (Whittaker 2019).3' (Introduction) -
Anne Elvey Reviews False Claims of Colonial Thieves by Charmaine Papertalk Green & John Kinsella, and Nganajungu Yagu by Charmaine Papertalk Green
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , September 2020;
— Review of False Claims of Colonial Thieves 2018 selected work poetry ; Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry -
Personal Histories
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2 January 2021; (p. 18)
— Review of Steles 2019 selected work poetry ; Smoke 2019 selected work poetry ; Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry ; The Espionage Act : New Poems 2020 selected work poetry -
Introduction to Charmaine Papertalk Green’s Nganajungu Yagu
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Nganajungu Yagu 2019;'Since Charmaine Papertalk Green’s poetry was first published in The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets in 1986, her voice on the page has been consistent: eloquently powerful, respectfully challenging and true to her role in life as a Yamaji Nyarlu. Nganajungu Yagu is no different, considering, as it does, respect for ancestors, connection to country, the role of the poet and Yamaji identity.' (Introduction)
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Australia’s First Nations Poets Map Possible Path of Atonement
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Irish Times , 25 January 2020; -
Yamaji Poet Charmaine Papertalk Green Awarded 2020 Australian Literary Society Gold Medal
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , July 2020;'Yamaji woman and author Charmaine Papertalk Green has been awarded the 2020 Australian Literary Society gold medal for her book of poetry Nganajungu Yagu.'
-
Generations of Tales Lost in the Mail
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24 October 2020; (p. 18)'When was the last time you posted a handwritten letter to a family member? For most of us, the days of regularly sticking stamps on letters are long gone, supplanted by emails, text messages and FaceTime.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2020 shortlisted Small Press Network Book of the Year Award
- 2020 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Judith Wright Calanthe Award
- 2020 winner ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal
- 2020 commended New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Indigenous Writer's Prize
- 2020 winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Poetry
