Hot topics - The Courier Mail Big Book Club 'Diversity Writes' Literary Event (30 September 2007)
Award-winning authors Tom Keneally, Alice Pung and Nike Bourke discussed the historical influences and inspiration behind their own work and that of other authors at a literary event, as part of the 2007 Queensland Multicultural Festival.
Journalist and 612 ABC presenter Madonna King led the panel in The Courier-Mail Big Book Club Diversity Writes Literary Event as they took a broad look at some of the influences on the evolution of diverse writing in Australia.
The free event also featured music reflecting the invited authors’ cultural backgrounds, played by talented musicians Chinese zither virtuoso Jingjing Lu, Asia-Pacific wind specialists Francis Gilfedder and Efiq Zulfiqar and Celtic group Sunas.
State Library of Queensland Multicultural Services brochure [new window 
249 kb] outlines the key points of State Library's Multicultural Services Strategy and highlights its commitment to Queensland's multicultural communities.
Table of contents
Books and other State Library of Queensland material
Books and other Public Library Services material
Full text articles
Find books and other material in the State Library South Bank Collections:
Please note: links on this page to non-State Library websites will open in a new window.
View our literature and music resources reflecting multicultural themes:
Literature resources:
Discover State Library holdings for participants of the Courier Mail Diversity Writers Literary Event:
- Thomas Keneally
- Alice Pung
Alice Pung's first novel, Unpolished Gem tells the story of a family rebuilding their lives following Cambodia's Pol Pot years. Alice draws great inspiration from the work of John Pilger - Nike Bourke
The catalogue provides access to a range of research and reference material.
View our resources on the following topics:
- Chinese Literature
- Pacific Area literature
- Folk Literature: Korean
- Folk Literature: Chinese
- Folk Literature: Russian
- Folk Literature: Slavic
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The following titles can be accessed on site at the State Library:
- A Bibliography of Australian multicultural writers
- The New Press guide to multicultural resources for young readers
- Multicultural writers since 1945: an A-to-Z guide
- This land is our land: a guide to multicultural literature for children and young adults
- Multicultural picturebooks: art for illuminating our world
The table below includes a selection of best-selling authors/titles featuring multicultural themes
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ADULT
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PICTURE BOOK
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YOUNG ADULT
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JUNIOR FICTION
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Music resources
Reference books
Books
Music scores
Sound recordings
Or use your own keywords.
Find books and other material in the State Library's Public Library Services (PLS) collection:
Please note: links on this page to State Library of Queensland catalogue searches and to non-State Library websites will open in a new window.
Below is a selection of best-selling titles with a multicultural theme from the State Library's PLS collection. These items are only available through your local Queensland public library. Contact your local public librarian for more information concerning loans.
Picture books
- Whoever you are by Mem Fox
- Fang Fang’s Chinese New Year by Sally Rippin
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Where's Jamela? by Niki Daly
Junior fiction
- Soraya the Storyteller by Rosanne Hawke
- Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
- Camel Rider by Prue Mason
Young adult
- Does my head look big in this? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
- Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
- 'Parvana', 'Parvana's Journey' by Deborah Ellis
- Walk in my shoes by Alwyn Evans
- A long walk from Lavender street by Belinda Hollyer
- Wogalucci's by Josie Montano
Find articles in online databases:
Try the searches below, or create your own combination of keywords.
Please note: To access these database links from your home or any offsite computer connected to the internet, you need to log in to each database. Log in to the offsite databases using your Queensland public library membership card or a State Library e-services card.
Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre - combines Australia and New Zealand specific magazines, newspapers, newswires and reference titles.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online - a reference site for students, educators and parents, it includes editorially reviewed websites and the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- Multicultural writing after WWII
- Thomas Keneally
- World music
- Folk music
- Ethnomusicology
- African popular music
Encyclopaedia Student - makes the authoritative content of the Encyclopaedia lively and easy to read for secondary/middle students and up.
Encyclopaedia Junior - created especially for readers at the primary school level. Thousands of shorter articles cover subjects for school and fun.
Literature Resource Center - up-to-date literary information from journals and reference titles. Access biographies, bibliographies and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline.
- Thomas Keneally
- Khaled Hosseini
- Monica Ali
- Zadie Smith
- Li Cunxin
- Mem Fox
- Peter Sis
- Sally Morgan
- Rosanne Hawke
- Ruth Starke
- Melina Marchetta
- Deborah Ellis
Webcasts
Diversity Writes
Journalist and ABC612 presenter Madonna King leads this lively panel discussion as three award winning authors discuss their journeys as writers and reflect on how living and working within a culturally diverse Australian society has inspired and influenced their work.
Find websites:
Search NetLinks for quality websites selected by library staff.
Try keywords like: world music, folk music, folk songs, traditional, instruments
For further information on world music, visit the following online resources and websites:
Celebrating cultural diversity through children’s literature [new window http://www.multiculturalchildrenslit.com/] This web site contains links to annotated bibliographies of children's multicultural books. 'Cultural groups currently listed include: African Americans, Chinese Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, Japanese Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans, and Korean Americans’.
AustLit: Australian multicultural writers [new window http://www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/MW] This web site ‘reflects the diversity of Australia's literary community and the diversity of Australian culture in general. This subset contains biographical details of writers who have identified particular cultural backgrounds, and bibliographical description of their works, published both in English and in more than fifty other languages’.
Magpies: talking about books for children [new window http://www.magpies.net.au/] Select 'Cumulative Index' from the left hand side menu and then use the keyword 'multicultural' to search for citations for multicultural literature in in Magpies: talking about books for children journal (in our onsite journals collection).
Radio 4EB FM 98.1 Brisbane Australia [new window http://www.4eb.org.au/] Specialised Radio to suit people who speak a language other than English. Brisbane's only multilingual radio station broadcasting 24/7
SBS Radio: the many voices of one Australia [new window http://www.radio.sbs.com.au/] SBS Radio broadcasts 24/7 across Australia. Its main audience is the 2.7 million Australians who speak a language other than English in the home.
Music Australia [new window http://www.musicaustralia.org/] Music Australia is an online service developed by the National Library and the National Film and Sound Archive and is a comprehensive portal to access and navigate a rich store of information on Australian music, musicians, organisations and services.
National Geographic World Music [new window http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/home] An online directory of world music artists and their sounds.
More information
Last updated: 9th June 2009
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