Discover the Indigenous voices of the world with Deadly Readers
Posted on
One of the best feelings in the world is being able to rug up and relax with a warm drink in one hand and a meaningful book in the other.
An even better feeling is doing all of this but with a group of like-minded people who share the same passions for discovering important stories.
Deadly Readers is a Canberra based book club dedicated to the telling of Indigenous stories by Indigenous peoples. The literature discussed in the club deals with a wide range of issues and themes including colonisation, identity, feminism and religion as well as culture. The only criteria for their selection is that the author must be Indigenous.
Through these themes, Deadly Readers seeks to deepen the understanding of the experiences of Indigenous peoples in all parts of the world.
Bhiamie Williams along with his wife began the club in 2017 after discovering through his studies the lack of exposure that the Indigenous authors around the world receive.
Deadly Readers welcomes any Canberrans and beyond to join the discussion and be a part of this movement to bring awareness to these amazing reads.
“The book club is dedicated to Indigenous voices and Indigenous stories told by Indigenous people but it’s absolutely open to everyone,” says Bhiamie Williams. “You don’t have to be Indigenous to come, as it’s for people who want to engage with Indigenous voices and have a passion for reading and for learning so everyone is welcome.”
Through their monthly catch ups at various cafes around Canberra, the members of Deadly Readers discuss each month’s allocated book.
Bhiamie Williams explains that prominent themes of collective trauma, conflict and historical studies have helped readers’ perspectives change.
“The most interesting conversations we have and started to have them quite in depth at the end of last year, is that by reading these books, how does that change the way that we read other books?”
For a sample of the types of books studied in the Deadly Readers book club, Bhiamie Williams suggests current favourites Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Ravensong by Lee Maracle and Popular Music from Vittula by Mikael Niemi.
Regular attendance at Deadly Readers meetups is not compulsory as the group understands that life can sometimes get in the way of your reading time.
Like the Deadly Readers Facebook page to find out more about upcoming meetups or join to be a part of the club.
2018 Deadly Readers book club reading list
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.