Off the top of my head, I can only name two Brisbane authors: Trent Dalton and Melissa Lucashenko. They tried to shove Tim Winton down my throat in university and so I thought he was also from Brisbane but he’s actually from Perth. The reason for the force-feeding was because Cloudstreet is based in a real location in Brisbane.

I know there’s a difference between “Brisbane-born” and “Brisbane-based” but for the sake of focusing on “local” (and because all of the sources say a bunch of different things), I’ll be including them both.

I’m not from Brisbane originally. I was born in Gosford, New South Wales, and moved all over the country in my first two decades, settling in Brisbane at eighteen and not leaving despite how much I loathe the weather and yearn for the streets of Melbourne. Brisbane has it’s charms, but the humid summers are not it.

I’ve see the TV series for Boy Swallows Universe but I haven’t read the novel. I rarely read the novel after watching the show but I did really enjoy the show. Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko is on my “to read” list.

After research, the Brisbane authors I was already familiar with are:

• Morris Gleitzman
  • read a bunch in primary school
• Anita Heiss
  • one of my main sources in university
  • I have Dhuuluu-Yala [To talk straight]: Publishing Indigenous Literature on my shelf. Bought a copy when I ran our of re-loans for the one at the uni library
  • I also have Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia, which she edited
  • and I have a bunch of her books on my “to read” list
• Benjamin Law
  • Gaysia is on my wishlist
• James Moloney
  • read A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove in high school
• Rikki-Lee Arnold
  • I own a copy of The First Tackle

Names that have regularly come up across the board whilst trying to “research” this were: David Malouf, Nick Earls, Thea Astley and Tristan Michael Savage. These are all the “bigger” names, there are still plenty of other Brisbane authors out there. Best collection of Brisbane-based authors I could find was through Australian Authors: Brisbane Authors. I only recognise about four of the authors but it’s an incomplete collection. QBD also does a local author spotlight.

I’ve never liked the idea of reading “for the sake of” and so have only ever read what caught my eye. But I’m older now and keener to actively broaden my horizons, even if that means just exploring books in my more immediate area. I’ve learnt that there is a difference between a “required reading” and a “curated reading” and I can enjoy the latter. I’m one of those people who struggle to read something I’m “expected” to and that’s made me mistakenly believe that directly working on increasing my range of reading would be just too hard. I realised this the first time I read Jane Austen but have only recently been seeking books with a purpose rather than wandering through aisles and waiting for something to catch my eye.

At some point I will read a book by Tim Winton! I have only resisted thus far out of an inexplicable resistance to everyone telling me to in university (this might be a spectrum thing apparently) but I have heard that his writing is amazing.

I do want to explore a lot of “smaller” local works as a way of supporting local authors. Actively supporting queer and BIPOC authors has made me realise that looking for those works is important and often leads to worlds that I honestly enjoy. If I don’t try to curate my own reading, I’ll only get fed what’s “popular”, and that’s one of the things that I don’t like about the publishing industry to begin with. So it’s time to really look for some close by reads ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)