12 Blak Books of the Holiday Season
Blak & Bright is feeling festive… we wanted to share our 12 Blak Books of the Holiday Season for 2025!
It’s not too late to buy your gifts and there’s no better gift than a Blak book 🎁
This list is packed with deadly reads including novels, poetry, picture books and more! These books are perfect for any kiddos, friends, or family on your gift list and are sure to bring joy, knowledge, and inspiration. Let’s dive in and find the perfect Blak reads for the holidays!
Three Dresses by Wanda Gibson – University of Queensland Press
When Wanda Gibson was a little girl, her mum would tell her this as they packed to go on holidays. Wanda grew up on Hope Vale Mission in Far North Queensland, and her family were allowed only one short break away from work each year. At their special spot at the beach, they camped in the sandhills, cooked fresh fish on the fire and swam in the ocean.
Beautifully illustrated with Wanda’s paintings, this heart-warming true story celebrates family time, connection to place and finding joy in the simple things, like your favourite three dresses.
Traditional Healers of Central Australia: Ngangkari (New Edition) by Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council Aboriginal Corporation – Magabala Books
An updated, stunning new edition of a Magabala classic, Traditional Healers is a generous and authorised sharing of the words and traditions of the ngangkari, the traditional healers of the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Lands, encompassing 350,000 square kilometres of the remote western desert. Acknowledged, respected and accepted, these ngangkari work collaboratively with hospitals and health professionals even beyond this region, working hand-in-hand with Western medical practitioners. For thousands of years, they have nurtured the physical, emotional and social well-being of their people, and now they share their wisdom, natural healing techniques and cultural history through life stories, spectacular photography and artwork. This new edition includes 10 new ngangkari stories.
The Pearl of Tagai Town by Lenora Thaker – Text Publishing
A sweeping, heart-warming and ultimately triumphant story of the life of a young Torres Strait Islander woman from Tagai Town, a shantytown on the northeastern coast of Australia, in the decades before, during and after World War II.
Growing up in the 1930s, Pearl strives for a place in the wider world, battling deep-seated prejudices. When she rescues a white shopkeeper trapped under a fallen beam, a bond forms between the two women, and Pearl becomes the first Ailan woman, Islander woman, to work front-of-shop in the nearby white town. Not everyone is happy, of course, least of all the affronted white customers. But Pearl is quietly determined. Her budding romance with the bank manager’s son, though, must always be kept secret for her to retain her position and for the security of Tagai Town. Like Ama Rose says, ‘We leave them koles, white people, alone and they leave us alone!’
When war arrives and Teddy suddenly enlists in the army, Pearl faces a cruel punishment. But her quest to recover the child she had with Teddy reveals much more than she’d bargained for.
Arsenic Flower by Dakota Feirer – Hachette Australia
In this breathtaking debut collection, Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr man Dakota Feirer potently explores the legacy of generational trauma and the cultural wisdom of First Nations people. In a landscape of loss, his words act as both spear and shield.
With dazzling imagery and rhythms inspired by lo-fi hip-hop, these poems confront the violence of colonialism that echoes still in the complexities of blak masculinity.
Drawing on cultural memories sprung from stolen Country, bloodstained soil, broken promises and poisoned waterholes, Feirer's words roar and whisper as he gives voice to silenced histories.
Hairy Holes 2 by Brenton E McKenna – Magabala Books
In the thrilling sequel to Hairy Holes (2023), readers finally meet the mysterious keyboard warrior, Crypt_hunter19, on his journey to prove the supernatural beings known as Hairy Holers do exist. But what happens when he catches the attention of a shady private government sector spearheaded by none other than Lieutenant Major Bart Tux?
Meanwhile in the outback, Begley becomes more versed in using the internet and the new social media platform Headtwerk, raking in followers but no friends. Redley on the other hand, has no intention of changing, and continues to believe skinnies (humans) can’t be trusted. Will their first encounter with Major Bart Tux prove him right?
Weaving Us Together by Lay Maloney – Hachette Australia
When I look back, I realise everything I needed was there all along.
I'm Jean O'Ryan and this is my story. I didn't know who I was or where I belonged when I moved with my dad to a little town surrounded by hills. In that valley where the rivers meet the sea, Seraphina Landry found me fallen over on a road. With a hand from Seraphina and the rest of The Crew, we weave our lives together using threads of hope, grief, joy and love. Never alone, I find my mob, face the worst of days, search for answers, and figure out what kind of person I wanna be.
From Gumbaynggirr and Gunggandji writer and black&write! Fellowship winner Lay Maloney (our deadly Literary Development Coordinator!).
Turbo Turtle by Gregg Dreise – Magabala Books
The turbo-charged fourth book in Gregg Dreise’s series Scales and Tails shares the story of how the turtle got his shell and learnt to slow down.
In the Dreamtime, a lizard hatched from his egg, only to be snatched up by an eagle! When he escapes by losing his tail the mighty Biamme gives him speed and entrusts him with the sacred Lore.
But when Turbo Turtle forgets to show respect to Country and the Elders, he must face the consequences. Punishment comes in the form of ‘Boreen’, and what happens next changes him forever.
A bold, imaginative tale of slowing down, making mistakes, and finding where you belong.
The Skin I’m In by Steph Tisdell – Pan Macmillan Australia
'It was the beginning of everything. And the end of so much.'
Layla is in her final year of school. It's the last year to make sure that the next major phase of her life begins correctly because she's got big plans.
She just wants to be a normal teenager and to fit in but when her troubled cousin Marley comes to stay, he challenges everything she thought she was.
Steph Tisdell is a writer, actor and an award-winning comedian. She's a proud Yidinji woman, and her words sparkle with humour, depth and authenticity in this extraordinary debut novel that explores cultural and personal expectations, and responsibilities.
A Savage Turn by Luke Patterson – Magabala Books
A Savage Turn is a searing debut from a Gamilaroi author. Using his biting wit and refreshing insight into modern and traditional life, Luke Patterson takes readers to forest billabongs, to prisons, and into nightmares of the not so distant past.
Along the way, he sends up the Australian dream and subverts expectations to create a seductive poetry collection sampling from a kaleidoscope of critical theory, modernist poetry, postcolonial irony, eco-romanticism and western folklore.
I'm Not Really Here by Gary Lonesborough – A&U Children's
When 17-year-old Jonah arrives in a new town – Patience – with his dad and younger brothers, it feels like a foreign place. A new town means he needs to make new friends - which isn't always easy. Especially when he's wrestling with his body image, and his memories of his mother.
When he joins the local footy team so he can spend more time with his new crush, Harley, he feels like he's moving closer to something good. But even though he knows what he wants, it doesn't mean he's ready.
Emotionally compelling, honest and warm, I'm Not Really Here is a beautiful novel about navigating family and friendships, and finding a way through grief towards love, from an internationally acclaimed bestselling First Nations author.
The Rot by Evelyn Araluen – University of Queensland Press
The Rot is a recalcitrant study of the decaying romances, expired hopes and abject injustices of the world. A liturgy for girlhood in the dying days of late-stage capitalism, these poems expose fraying nerves and tendons of a speaker refusing to avert their gaze from the death of Country, death on Country, and the bloody violence of settler colonies here and afar. Across sleepless nights, fractured alliances and self-destructive coping strategies, The Rot is what happens when poetry swallows more rage than it can console, quiet or ironise – this book demands you ready yourself for a better world.
Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson – Magabala Books
‘Each protest has been a stepping stone to the next battle...’
From the first protest of January 26th as a Day of Mourning in 1938, to the Pilbara Strike of 1946, to the struggle for the right to vote and be counted; the fight for justice for First Nations people takes many forms.
Always Was, Always Will Be takes a closer look at some of the iconic First Peoples protest movements of the last 200 years, celebrating the strength, wisdom, and bravery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people defending their land and asserting their right to self-determination through history.
There you have it! You don’t need a special occasion to support First Nations stories, but the holidays are a great opportunity support Blak voices. Happy reading and happy holidays!