Internationally acclaimed author Alexis Wright releases ground-breaking new novel
Western Sydney University welcomes the new novel, Praiseworthy, by acclaimed author Professor Alexis Wright.
An epic set in the north of Australia, Praiseworthy is published by Giramondo Publishing, based within the University’s Writing and Society Research Centre. It is the latest work by Professor Wright, who also wrote Carpentaria, The Swan Book and Tracker.
Praiseworthy is told with the richness of language and scale of imagery for which Professor Wright has become renowned.
A novel which pushes allegory and language to its limits, it tells the story of a small town dominated by a haze cloud, which heralds both an ecological catastrophe and a gathering of the ancestors.
A crazed visionary seeks out donkeys as the solution to the global climate crisis and the economic dependency of the Aboriginal people. His wife seeks solace from his madness in following the dance of butterflies and scouring the internet to find out how she can seek repatriation for her Aboriginal/Chinese family to China.
One of their sons, called Aboriginal Sovereignty, is determined to commit suicide. The other, Tommyhawk, wishes his brother dead so that he can pursue his dream of becoming white and powerful.
On Praiseworthy, Professor Wright says, “This is a story about the world’s oldest living culture on the precipice of unprecedented times – where survival of culture, one’s very soul, has been an emergency situation for over two centuries. A maelstrom, now joined by the maelstrom of global emergencies.”
“The novel follows a style of Aboriginal storytelling that may grow into fables of epical proportions. These are like stories of way-finding – similar to sacred stories of country. Remember! The pulse of country is huge, and so too are its stories. Praiseworthy is to me like what is felt in a single heartbeat.”
A member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Professor Wright’s previous works span both fiction and non-fiction achieving great success both locally and internationally. Her books have been published widely including in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Poland.
Among the many awards and acclaim for Professor Wright's work, Carpentaria was named the winner of the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2007, while the memoir, Tracker, which tells the story of Aboriginal visionary, thinker and entrepreneur, Tracker Tilmouth, won the Stella Prize in 2018.
Praiseworthy will be released by Giramondo from 1 April 2023, with Professor Wright’s two award-winning novels, Carpentaria and The Swan Book, to also be released in new editions in May 2023.
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ENDS
4 April 2023
Lauren Austin, Senior Media Officer
Photo credit: Vincent Long
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