AustLit

'I'm gonna educate you gronks. I get pissed off when white people wear the Aboriginal flag. Hey you. rah I'm talking to you. At protests, at exhibition openings, in selfies on Invasion Day, or because you lived in the Northern Territory for five years. I don't think there is ever a time in space for white bearers of the Koori flag. I should say Aboriginal flag cause south-east Aboriginal people, we don't own the flag. I had a Noongar housemate once who would always get annoyed when it came up and say, 'Yeh, you mean the Noongar flag.' (Introduction)

'I broke my arm in Eugowra, a small place in central New South Wales, in the summer holidays before I started Year 3. I was at my uncle's place with his stepkids. The older kids were going for a paddock bash in an old beat-up car with buckets for seats. Me and my younger cousin wanted to go for a ride on our bikes. I didn't have my own bike, I had my brother's old BMX, the colours of fire sprayed over the black frame. I was ashamed that I didn't have a real bike and had to ride the BMX everywhere like a tomboy. I tried to accessorise with blue handlebar pads but it looked dumb. That day in the paddock me and my cousin were told firmly by my dad and uncle, her stepdad, to stay away from the boys hooning around. We weren't allowed to ride up the long dirt driveway to the main road. Like normal kids, we ignored the rules and rode over to where the boys were doing burnouts.' (Introduction)
 

'I had never before considered whether an Aboriginal person could be an Anglophile. Then I came across one, a full-on black Anglophile. I thought being an Anglophile was a kind of paedophile to be honest, which would be an awkward thing to publicly admit so I looked it up later when they left in a cloud of earl grey and spotted dick: it means a person who greatly admires or favours England and all things English. I mean, sure I went through a phase of watching period dramas about rich British ladies yearning for the D, which was a bit of a sadistic habit, but this was a whole other level. ' (Introduction)
 

'In her introduction to Palestine + 100: Storks from a Century After the Nakba, Basma Ghalayini ponders the genre of science fiction and its relevance to Palestinian writing. She notes: The cruel present (and the traumatic past) have too firm a grip on Palestinian writers' imaginations for fanciful ventures into possible futures.' (Introduction)