Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Biography, Literature & Literary studies

BORN INTO THIS

Adam Thompson

Engaging, thought-provoking stories from a young Tasmanian Aboriginal author who addresses universal themes - identity, racism, heritage destruction - from a wholly original perspective.

The stories in Born Into This throw light on a world of unique cultural practice and perspective, from Indigenous rangers trying to instil some pride in wayward urban teens on the harsh islands off the coast of Tasmania to those scraping by on the margins of white society railroaded into complex and compromised decisions.

To this mix Adam Thompson manages to bring humour, pathos and occasionally a sly twist as his characters confront racism, untimely funerals, classroom politics and, overhanging all like a discomforting, burgeoning awareness for both white and black Australia, the inexorable damage and disappearance of the remnant natural world.

Adam Thompson is an emerging (pakana) writer of contemporary short fiction. Adam has received writing awards through the Tamar Valley Writers Festival and the Tasmanian Writers and Readers Festival. He has been awarded a First Nations Fellowship at Varuna, several Arts Tasmania grants, and was a recipient of The Next Chapter initiative through the Wheeler Centre.

Available products
Book Published 2021-02-02 by UQP University of Queensland Press - St Lucia (AUS)

Comments

Author's video: Adam Thompson on 'Born Into This' Read more...

Adam Thompson on ABC Podcast Read more...

Adam is the next Winton/Flanagan/Tsiolkas (while being unarguably his own unique thing).

The Tasmanian landscape and a whole host of engaging, charming and well drawn characters populate the stories that make up Born Into This, the debut short story collection from Adam Thompson; an emerging Aboriginal (pakana) author from Tasmania. The collection comprises sixteen stories, often brief, but always impactful. In spite of this brevity, Thompson is able to tackle some hefty topics and themes; and explores issues of identity, belonging, colonialism and nature. More often than not, these themes are explored with subtlety and nuance. Though, Thompson, is certainly direct when required... Read more...

With its wit, intelligence and restless exploration of the parameters of race and place, Thompson's debut collection is a welcome addition to the canon of Indigenous Australian writers of the calibre of Tony Birch, Melissa Lucashenko, Tara June Winch and Ellen van Neervan. Read more...

I knew from the first page that Born Into This was going to be something special. Adam Thompson is a world-class writer whose stories strike like lightning.

A compelling new voice, tough yet tender, from the heart of Aboriginal Tasmania.

Funny, tender, thoughtful and original, Thompson is one to watch out for.

Adam Thompson manages to bring humour, pathos and occasionally a sly twist as his characters confront racism, untimely funerals, classroom politics and, overhanging all like a discomforting, burgeoning awareness for both white and black Australia, the inexorable damage and disappearance of the remnant natural world. Read more...

US: Tow Dollar Radio ;

Adam Thompson's debut collection of short stories, Born Into This, delivers refreshing and vital reading. The lives of the characters within these pages provide an honest, humorous and occasionally raw insight into the experiences of living in a country, and on Country, both shared and in contest. Thompson is a writer who knows that the way to our hearts and heads is through powerful storytelling. He delivers on every page, with each word.

Thompson approaches identity in a nuanced and complex manner... the inner turmoil of his very contemporary characters can't be reduced to simplistic polarities. Read more...

Born Into This author, Adam Thompson, was shortlisted for the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize and won first runner-up.

Born Into This is drenched in swagger and originality, the blows are head-on, but the comfort is swiftly delivered in the wit and delicacy of Thompson's phrasing. He has the reader in the boat, on the shore and drowning in the sea at once.

It's not often a new literary voice seems to spring full formed from a world so unique and yet so achingly recognisable... A debut collection that leaps from the starter's gate.

Adam Thompson's stories from Aboriginal Tasmania are as beautifully written as they are evocative. Here is an outstanding new talent. Born Into This is compelling reading.

Engaging, thought-provoking stories from a young Tasmanian Aboriginal author who addresses universal themes - identity, racism, heritage destruction - from a wholly original perspective. ... This remarkable debut crackles with wit, swagger and rage - as entertaining and affecting as it is thought-provoking - and assuredly introduces Aboriginal (pakana) writer Adam Thompson as a fresh new voice to follow in the Australian fiction landscape. Read more...