BILIRR (BLACK COCKATOO): EMERGING FIRST NATIONS AUSTRALIA WRITERS PROJECT

Australia’s First Nations (Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islanders) are proud Custodians of Culture, Language, Country and Sea. It is Aboriginal people who Sing the Country, keeping it well and strong; it is Aboriginal people who have survived white invasion to raise the flag of strength: black for the people, yellow for energy and life, blood-stained red for Country.

We seek submissions of poetry and prose by Australia’s First Nations people. If selected, we promise to sit with your work for as long as it takes to ready it for publication. We would love you to sing / write / shout in your voice (Language / Kreol / Aboriginal English / Standard Australian English) the story you want the world to stop and enjoy or be unsettled by. Even if your work is not accepted for publication, you’ll be offered feedback and support from our editors. 

You may submit a maximum of 3 poems and/or 1 long fiction, nonfiction or memoir piece.
 
For examples of work previously published on this project, see our Vault.
 

Verity La acknowledges the Aboriginal people as the Traditional owners and Custodians of the lands on which we now work and live. We pay our respects to the Ancestors and Elders who were, and continue to be, the storytellers helping us to know our Country and her people of the past and present more clearly. We are reminded of the journey that began with the Aboriginal people in this land, but that now incorporates the larger family of Torres Strait Islanders & Australian people.