Tony Birch

Now in B format, the superb novel from leading Indigenous storyteller Tony Birch explores the lengths we will go to in order to save the people we love. ‘Odette, be sensible. Sissy cannot leave this town.’ Shea threw his hands in the air. ‘Listen to me, please, Odette. It's not as if your Sissy is a white girl.’ Odette Brown...

Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, Blood is a coming-of-age story set on the back roads of Australia. From multi-award-winning author Tony Birch comes a masterful novel about the indelible bond between two siblings. Jesse has sworn to protect his sister, Rachel, no matter what. It's a promise that cannot be broken. A promise made in blood. But, when...

A powerful, personal novel about women, children and justice, from one of this country's most loved and clear-eyed writers. It's 1965 and Joe Cluny is living in a working-class suburb with his mum, Marion, and sister, Ruby, spending his days trying to avoid trouble with the nuns at the local Catholic primary school. One evening his Aunty Oona appears on...

Women & Children is a powerful, personal novel about women and justice, from one of this country's most loved and clear-eyed storytellers. It's 1965, and Joe Cluny is living in a working-class suburb with his mum, Marion, and sister, Ruby. He spends his days trying to avoid trouble with the nuns at the local Catholic primary school. One evening, his...

Now in B format, this stunning, prize-winning novel, set alongside the Yarra River, is heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure. Ghost River delves deep into the mysteries of the river, a place abundant with history and secrets. For Ren and Sonny, two unlikely friends, the river represents freedom and adventure. For a group of storytelling vagrants, it is a refuge....

In this unforgettable collection, Tony Birch introduces a cast of characters from all walks of life. These remarkable and surprising stories capture common people caught up in the everyday business of living and the struggle to survive. From two single mothers on the most unlikely night shift to a homeless man unexpectedly faced with the miracle of a new life,...

A multi-award-winning story collection from bestselling Indigenous writer Tony Birch. Dark as Last Night confirms, once again, that Tony Birch is a master of the short story. These exceptional stories capture the importance of human connection at pivotal moments in our lives, whether those occur because of the loss of a loved one or the uncertainties of childhood. In this...

From Australia's master storyteller comes this retrospective of his best short stories from the past two decades. Pictures of You - Collected Stories brings together the best of acclaimed writer Tony Birch's short fiction from the past two decades. Cherrypicking from across his oeuvre, this anthology showcases his skills at finding the extraordinary in ordinary lives, and the unexpected connections...

'You find yourself down at the bottom of the river, for some it's time to give into her. But other times, young fellas like you two, you got to fight your way back. Show the river you got courage and is ready to live.' The river is a place of history and secrets. For Ren and Sonny, two unlikely friends,...

Shadowboxing is a collection of ten linked stories depicting the life of a boy growing up in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in the 1960s. A beautifully rendered time capsule, it captures a period of decay, turmoil, and change through innocent, unblinking eyes. Michael's family, led by his long-suffering mother, live as though under siege, surviving his father's drinking and...

In this breathtaking new work, Tony Birch affirms his position as one of Australia's finest writers of short-form fiction. Using his unflinching creative gaze, he ponders love and loss and faith. A trio of amateur thieves are left in charge of a baby moments before a heist. A group of boys compete in the final of a marbles tournament, only...

An illuminating essay on the author of the Miles Franklin Award-winning novels Benang and That Deadman Dance. I value Kim Scott's fiction so highly because I feel that his approach is to put the flags aside. That Deadman Dance asks us not to consider who we were so much as who we could be, collectively, in the future. Noongar writer...

Now included in UQP's First Nations Classics series with an introduction from Tony Birch, Smoke Encrypted Whispers is a stunning collection of exhilarating poems, urban songlines and ancestral ties that have become the hallmarks of this poet. Reading this book is, as Tony Birch points out, 'like witnessing Bruce Springsteen meet the Dreamtime'. Smoke Encrypted Whispers showcases Samuel Wagan Watson's...

A timely and important collection of poems by the award-winning author of The White Girl and Blood. In this stunning collection, Tony Birch invites the reader into a tender conversation with those he loves—and has loved—the most. He also challenges the past to speak up by interrogating the archive, including documents from his own family history, highlighting forcefully the ways...

They are not just words whistling on the wind. They come laden with other gifts. With a whole place: Melbourne. It makes you wonder what elements must thus congeal to sustain the songs, the poems, across all these pages without once faltering, without missing a beat. Perhaps it is in what they call 'tone'—no pun intended, mate. Don't think you'll...