Tara June Winch was born near Sydney in 1983, where she spent her childhood roaming the shorelines of the NSW south-coast, swimming and surfing. Tara is of Wiradjuri, Afghan and English heritage. In 2004 she won the David Unaipon Award for an Indigenous Writer for Swallow the Air. In 2003 she won the Maureen Donahue Award for the State Library of Queensland’s Young Writers Award. Tara is currently completing her study at Southern Cross University’s Ginibi Indigenous College. Her work is also included in Best Australian Stories 2005.
Swallow the Air
Simply connect
Simply connect
Genre:
WHEN MAY AND BILLY lose their mother, they are taken in by their aunt. Plunged into a world of brutality and substance abuse, the siblings react in different ways to the sense of loss and not belonging. Billy continues his self-destructive behaviour, while May embarks on a quest around Australia to find her true sense of self, and to re-connect with her Aboriginal heritage.
This beautifully written novel is poetic and hypnotic, but with delightfully realistic dialogue. It won the David Unaipon Award for Indigenous Authors and was short-listed for the The Age Book of the Year.
About the Author
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