A landmark anthology of Black Australian writing, Paperbark brings together poetry, short fiction, essays, and life writing from Aboriginal authors across generations.

First published in the mid-1980s, the collection was one of the earliest major platforms for Indigenous voices in Australian publishing, asserting literary presence at a moment when it was still routinely marginalised or ignored.

The writing here is varied in form and tone—political, lyrical, confrontational, reflective—but unified by a commitment to speaking from lived experience rather than mediated representation. A gathering of voices that insist on sovereignty, memory, culture, and survival through language.

An essential historical document and a still-urgent collection.