On Tuesday 23 July, we were delighted to attend the First Nations Peace Poetics seminar hosted by the Australian National University at the beautiful National Botanic Gardens!

Thank you so much to Elfie Shiosaki for inviting us to share in this wonderful event – it was such a privilege to be able to attend, and listen and learn together.

About the event

By gathering together esteemed First Nations writers, this event shines light on the power of First Nations poetics to lead peace-making practices within our communities and nation. Through creative practice, First Nations poetics of peace contribute to healing the self, unreconciled relationships in the present and unreconciled narratives of the past. ANU Associate Professor Elfie Shiosaki was in conversation with award-winning First Nations writers Ellen van Neerven, Kirli Saunders and Natalie Harkin to explore the collective power of First Nations poetics of peace to constellate and navigate new directions in Indigenous futures.

Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning writer of Mununjali Yugambeh and Dutch heritage. They have authored two poetry collections, Throat and Comfort Food, one work of fiction, Heat and Light, and a nonfiction collection called Personal Score, which received the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Prize for nonfiction.

Kirli Saunders (OAM) is a proud Gunai Woman, award-winning author, multidisciplinary artist and consultant who creates to connect to make change. She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to the arts (2022). Kirli has partnered with global organisations including Google, Fender, Sydney Opera House, Qantas and Spotify, Mecca and Aesop to celebrate stories and cultivate change. Her books among others include Bindi, Kindred and Returning (Magabala). Her play, Going Home, is in development. She is currently writing her anticipated novel, Yaraman, assisted by AUSCO.

Natalie Harkin (Narungga) is a poet and Research Fellow with the Indigenous Studies team at Flinders University, Kaurna Yarta. She is committed to archival justice, and engages archival-poetic methods to document community Memory Stories, Aboriginal women's domestic service labour histories, and Indigenous Living-Legacy archive innovations for our time. Her words have been installed and projected in mixed-media exhibitions, including creative-arts research collaboration with Unbound Collective. Her books include Dirty Words (Cordite Books), Archival-Poetics (Vagabond Press), and APRON-SORROW / SOVEREIGN-TEA (Wakefield Press, in-press).

Elfie Shiosaki is a Noongar and Yawuru academic and storyteller from the southwest region of Australia, leading community education about human rights through her award-winning Indigenous storytelling practices. She is an Associate Professor at POLIS: the Centre for Social Policy Research, Australian National University.