Goorie and Koori poet Evelyn Araluen and nêhiyaw author Jessica Johns have co-curated three events of Indigenous writers from Australia and Canada for the Melbourne Writers Festival in May.
The series of events forms the Festival of Indigenous Stories.
Johns told NITV that connection between Indigenous people from across the globe is crucial and "essential" for survival.
“Right now is a really terrifying time," she said.
"We’re witnessing multiple genocides, we’re witnessing a rise in fascism and white supremacy and things that we, as Indigenous people, have experienced for many, many years and witnessed our communities experience, we’re sort of witnessing on our screens and with impunity," she said.
"There’s nobody that is not going to be affected by this.”
Johns said Indigenous solidarity has a role to play.
“I think that the importance of a global Indigenous solidarity and relationship building [is] going to be the thing that brings us out, that’s going to be the thing that fortifies us.”
Johns said relationship building was at the core of discussions while curating the events for the festival, for her the most exciting part.
“What does it look like for us to gather these writers from [Canada] and writers from [Australia]? What does it look like for us to actually learn on the land that we’re visiting and share knowledge with each other around whatever it is - whether that’s writing or whether that’s our experiences, whether that’s our knowledges?”
Strength through connection resonated for Araluen, the multi-award winning poet.
“Being able to have conversations that reveal shared connections that we hadn’t necessarily thought about or understood, those moments and encounters make us feel more human and less alienated,” she said.
Alongside Johns, the three panels include visiting Indigenous Canadian authors: Mohawk writer Alicia Elliott, Métis writer Chelsea Vowel, Serpent River First Nation writer Jesse Wente, and Anishinaabe writer Quill Christie-Peters.
They will be joined in conversation by Torres Strait Islander and African American writer Jasmine McGaughey, Kalkadoon writer John Morrissey and Koori/Goori and Lebanese writer Mykaela Saunders.
The discussions are entitled ‘Burial Grounds: Indigenous Perspectives on Horror’; ‘Reimagining Resistance Beyond Colonies’ and ‘Sintering: An Evening of Indigenous Brilliance’ and will all take place throughout the day on May 9 at the Wheeler Centre.
For Araluen and Johns, shifting away from deficit narratives in favour of celebrating the innovation of First Nations storytelling was key.
Johns pointed to authors who subvert western narrative structures and use their own.
“It’s just these really cool narrative structures that you’re not seeing in contemporary western history and to other people they would be called experimental or hybrid form, and for a lot of Indigenous people it’s a return to form and I just want to read it all," she said.
"I find it a very exciting time for Indigenous folks in fiction and in media arts right now."
As a poet, Araluen is excited by the growing number of up and coming Indigenous poets, something she says is partly made possible by a transforming industry.
“This period now makes me so excited because it’s the first time I’ve felt like we are realised as readers, we are imagined as audiences and people are not just asking ‘what can we give for white audiences?’ but actually asking what we might like to see,” she said.
A lot has changed since Araluen was young, when it was difficult to find more than one or two stories by First Nations writers.
There are now far more writers and stories for young people to access and be inspired to write themselves.
“It makes me really thrilled when we start to see younger people emerging who’ve had that experience and had that intergenerationality of being exposed to stories,” she said.
Araluen said it was crucial to ensure there were opportunities outside of the festival for the visiting writers to learn and experience culture.
Activities will include visiting Ngurrak Barring, a trail through the Dandenong Ranges, to see ‘Thrivance: Then, Now, Next’ an art installation by First Nations artists, as well as community focused workshops to connect the visiting writers with Aboriginal readers.
There are also plans for a reciprocal visit to take place later in the year with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers invited to the Toronto International Festival of Authors.
Melbourne Writers Festival takes place at various locations across Naarm/Melbourne from 7 - 10 May.
