On Kim Scott by Tony Birch

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This is the second in the Australian series “Writers on Writers” that I have read. The first was about Tim Winton; this one is about Kim Scott, another favorite of mine. I did not recognize the name Tony Birch, though it turns out I read an essay of his in Anita Heiss’s collection Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia.

In 2018 Kim Scott’s book That Deadman Dance was one of my favorites for the year. I knew he had written another book, Taboo, and was waiting for it to be available in the US when to my amazement Kim Scott himself turned up in our little city of Charlottesville. He spoke about the work he does with the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Story Project and Tony Birch speaks of that too. He believes Kim Scott “regards storytelling as an act of sharing, a communal venture, not unlike his involvement in the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project.”

My own feeling about his work is that I appreciate the two books I’ve read as literature that includes me and is valuable community-building work.

Tony Birch, On Kim Scott, Black, Inc. 88 pages 2024 (I read the kindle version).

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