By examining the works of First Nations storyteller Bill Neidjie and scholars Mary Graham and Jeanie Bell I want to dissect the meaning and complexities of story, Country and language, exploring the importance of an Indigenist framework for approaching Aboriginal literature — particularly for non-Indigenous people.

Scott-Patrick Mitchell’s Clean and Alan Fyfe’s T are books with a deep relation. A poetry collection and a novel respectively, Clean and T were released within less than a year of each other and attracted multiple award listings; and both deal with methamphetamine use in Western Australia, a state which consumes the drug at almost twice the national average.

Late last year, Renters United and I joined together to make a new version of Rat King Landlord that would be free to renters. I had been aware of Renters United for about four years when the book came out and I loved what they were up to. Whenever the weird logic of property speculation got air time, Renters United would be there talking about the real impact on people. We were faced with two challenges: where to get the funds to make a few thousand copies, and how to make sure the copies didn’t just sit in our garages getting damp.

While some aspects of her work can be challenging, including the English nationalism of Swastika Night, Katharione Burdekin's bold speculations were extraordinary for the period—as is the fact that she got them into print with major publishers, to appreciative reviews. As a writer on gender Burdekin is even more relevant in our troubled times. Her words, her ideas, retain their danger now.

The publication of Jim Davidson’s biography of Overland’s Stephen Murray-Smith and Meanjin founder Clem Christesen provides an opportunity to re-examine the socialist realism with which Overland was once very much associated.