Explore upcoming events

Homegrown reading list

All writers are readers first so, when audiences at Homegrown were treated to a rich list of recommendations from our panelists, rooms filled with sounds of delight, pens were flying and notes apps blazing. By popular demand, we're sharing some of your favourites' favourite reads below.

Charlotte Wood, author of Stone Yard Devotional, The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend

Delirious by Damien Wilkens

Described by Charlotte as her "favourite book of the last five years", Delirious is about an older couple preparing to move into a retirement village when a new revelation about the disappearance of their son decades earlier unmoors a sense of loss that had been neatly tucked away.

A Body of Water by Beverley Farmer

First published in 1990, this classic blends essay, memoir, fiction and folk tales in an uncharacteristically wild work from Australia's publishing scene at the time. Written over a period of emotional inhibition and loneliness, Charlotte mused that "if contemporary sad girl books took this as a model they'd be much more interesting".

Tony Birch, author of The White Girl, Blood and Shadowboxing

Benang by Kim Scott

Winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, Benang follows the poignant journey of a young Indigenous man proclaimed to be the successful outcome of his white grandfather’s attempts to breed the ‘first white man born’. Harnessing the power of the colonial archive, to Tony "it gives you the heart of Aboriginal people in a way that no historical document ever could".

Cousins by Patricia Grace

A forceful yet tender portrait of whānau, tradition and change. This is the story of three cousins' intersecting lives and stories as children once thrown together and women grown apart.

Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu, Black Duck and The European Mind

Arsenic Flower by Dakota Feirer

A haunting poetry collection from black&write! fellowship winner Dakota Feirer, Arsenic Flower shatters the myth that we are all equal on stolen land. Melding evocative imagery and hip-hop inspired rhythms, Dakota confronts the violence of colonialism that echoes in complexities of blak masculinity.

Because A White Man'll Never Do It by Kevin Gilbert

Credited by Bruce as containing "one of the most influential lines in Australian literature", First Nations human rights defender, poet, playwright, and artist Kevin Gilbert's 1973 expose of race relations in Australia remains immensely significant fifty years on.

Emily Perkins, author of Lioness and The Forrests

Potiki by Patricia Grace

From the first Māori woman to publish a full-length book, Potiki is a cornerstone of contemporary Aotearoan literature that weaves the myths of older times into the political realities of today.

Audition by Pip Adam

From a "writer of huge ideas and huge imagination", Emily's second recommendation hinges on a frankly ludicrous premise where a crew of giants aboard a spaceship grow bigger when they stop speaking. Let the chaos ensue.

Kirli Saunders, author of Kindred, Bindi and Afloat

Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen

"Clapping back at the colony at every possible turn," Dropbear burst onto the literary scene in 2021 and should be compulsory reading. A heady mix of poetry and essay that chafes against the myth making of modern Australia, Kirli's personal favourite from the collection is "Learning Bundjalung on Tharawal".

Words to Sing the World Alive edited by Jasmin McGaughey

In this ode to First Nations languages from across the continent, join 40 First Nations writers and thinkers including Kim Scott, Tara June Winch, Nardi Simpson, Ellen van Neerven, Alice Skye, Bruce Pascoe, Anita Heiss, Thomas Mayo, Evelyn Araluen and Claire G Coleman as they share their words to sing the world alive.

Melanie Saward, author of Love Unleashed and Burn

The Belburd by Nardi Simpson

Described by Melanie as a "big warm hug from a mother", The Belburd is a powerful story about women and creation rendered with Nardi's characteristic lyricism. At the story's centre is Ginny Dilboong, a young poet making sense of the world and grappling with her place in it.

We hope that you've encountered a fresh release or a classic title that's new to you. Happy reading!

Join us for the second weekend of Homegrown next month for even more recommendations and bookish conversations.