The story is imagined, but it comes from knowing what actually happens within Aboriginal communities. The novel teems with extraordinary characters - Elias Smith the outcast saviour, the religious zealot Mozzie Fishman, the murderous mayor Stan Bruiser, the moth-ridden Captain Nicoli Finn, the activist and prodigal son Will Phantom, and above all, the queen of the rubbish-dump Angel Day and her sea-faring husband Normal Phantom, the fish-embalming king of time – figures that stride like giants across this storm-swept world. Wright's storytelling is operatic and surreal: a blend of myth and scripture, farce and politics.

Inspired by real-life complex negotiations over native title rights, the novel's portrait of life in the precariously settled coastal town of Desperance centres on the powerful Phantom family, leader of the Westend Pricklebush people, and its battles with old Joseph Midnight's renegade Eastend mob on the one hand, and the white officials of Uptown and the neighbouring Gurfurrit mine on the other. And - with books being one of the best ways to tell the tales of injustice, build connections and promote healing - we’ve compiled 10 written by Indigenous Australians that tell Indigenous stories.Carpentaria is Alexis Wright's second novel, an epic set in the Gulf country of north-western Queensland, from where her people come, but also a novel about native title rights told through a colloquial and extraordinary Aboriginal voice. In the lead up to Global Citizen Live, we’re exploring the myriad subtle and not so subtle ways racism exists against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia.

Take Action: PM Morrison: Australia Must Play Its Part to Stop the Climate Crisis

To understand one another, to have empathy and compassion: these are the cornerstones of peace and vital components to building a world free from bigotry, racism, disadvantage and discrimination for all.Īdvancing equity is a focus of Global Citizen’s Global Goal Live campaign, which will see Global Citizens, artists and world leaders unite to defend the planet and defeat poverty. That’s Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, perhaps one of the world’s most famous books and most famous quotes. 'You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”

Carpentaria book