What we read and loved this year, from the staff at Amnesty International Australia. Add these to your summer reading list (or at the very least, your summer reading list pile.)
White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind – Koa Beck
Koa Beck gives us a tough lesson on intersectionality, as she boldly examines the history of feminism – from the true mission of the suffragists to the rise of corporate feminism. She also examines overlooked communities—including Native American, Muslim, transgender, and more—and their ongoing struggles for social change.
Sex, Lies, and Question Time – Kate Ellis
In Sex, Lies and Question Time, former MP Kate Ellis explores the good, the bad and the ugly of life as a woman in Australian politics
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lukashenko
Kerry Salter is part of an Aboriginal family living on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. She has spent a lifetime avoiding two things – her hometown and prison. But now her Pop is dying and she’s an inch away from the lockup, so she heads south on a stolen Harley
Fascists among us: Online Hate and the Christchurch Massacre – Jeff Sparrow
‘Fascists among us’ is the first book since Christchurch to trace the massacre’s fascist roots and what it represents. Jeff Sparrow traces the history of the far right, showing how fascists have adapted to the new politics of the twenty-first century.
Coming Of Age In The War On Terror – Randa Abdel Fattah
Randa Abdel Fattah explores the generation – Muslim and non-Muslim – who has grown up only knowing a world at war on terror, who have been socialised in a climate of widespread Islamophobia, surveillance and suspicion.
Emotional Female – Yumiko Kadota
Emotional Female is Yumiko Kadota’s account of what it was like to train in the Australian public hospital system, and what made her walk away. When it comes to burnout and finding the resilience to rebuild after suffering a physical, emotional and existential breakdown, Kadota finds herself the voice of a generation.
The Yield – Tara June Winch
Knowing that he will soon die, Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi takes pen to paper. Tara June Winch’s The Yield is the story of a people and a culture dispossessed. But it is as much a celebration of what was and what endures, and a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling and identity.
The Boy From The Mish – Gary Lonesborough
The Boy From The Mish is a funny and heart-warming queer Indigenous YA novel, set in a rural Australian community. It follows seventeen-year-old Jackson who finds the courage to explore who he is – even if it scares him. If listening is more your thing, Mayne Wyatt narrates the audiobook version of this novel brilliantly.
Born Both: An Intersex Life – Hilda Viloria
From one of the world’s foremost intersex activists, Born Both: An Intersex Life is a candid, provocative, and eye-opening memoir of gender identity, self-acceptance, and love. Hida Viloria tells their own story, as well as their decades-long fight for human rights and equality for intersex people everywhere.
