Your favourite First Nations authors are at State Library

Who is your favourite Australian First Nations author? Maybe you don’t have one yet. State Library’s Information Collections can help! We have a wealth of books on levels 2 and 3 of the library that are written by Australian First Nations authors and you can borrow them. 

 State Library collects books by Australian First Nations authors of all genres, from journalists like Daniel Browning who wrote Close to the subject, to fiction like Clare G. Coleman’s sci-fi novel, Terra nullius. We have speculative fiction in the anthology, This all come back now and even poetry like Ellen van Neerven’s, Throat and Jazz Money’s, Mark the dawn. In fact, collecting Australian First Nations voices is so important to us we include it in our Content Strategy which determines what books we buy and why.

What do you like to read about? If you’re looking for a story of a resilient young mother and her spirited daughter you might like Nardi Simpson’s Song of the crocodile. If instead you want a book about a small group of friends navigating the ups and downs of life you might prefer Tiddas by Anita Heiss which was recently staged as a play. 

We make sure to have all the latest titles available or on order. Some latest releases you can find on our shelves include I am Nannertgarrook by Tasma Walton, Not quite white in the head by Melissa Lucashenko and Murriyang: song of time by Stan Grant all released in 2025.  

Be one of the first to read ebooks like Rot by Evelyn Araleun or Right story, wrong story by Tyson Yunkaporta. At your local public library you might wait weeks even months to borrow these books but they are here on our shelves (both physical and virtual) waiting for you! So come in or read from home and find your favourite Australian First Nations authors at State Library.