Embrace the Past Inspire the Future

Broome’s iconic publisher Magabala Books brings brilliant books to the conversation.

While in Broome, pay a visit to Australia’s leading Indigenous publisher and winner of the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards' Small Publisher of the Year.

Magabala Books has been celebrating and supporting First Nations stories for over 30 years, from social histories, poetry and memoirs, to children’s picture books, graphic novels and fiction. “We may be biased,” says Magabala Books publisher Rachel Bin Salleh,

“but we think Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing is the most dynamic, exciting and impressive literature published in Australia.”

Guided by strong cultural principles and a passion for quality literature, Magabala is named after the Nyul Nyul, Nyangumarta, Karajarri and Yawuru language word for ‘bush banana’.

“The bush banana spreads its seeds far and wide,” says Rachel. “The organisation was established in 1984 at a traditional Aboriginal song and dance festival held at Ngumpan near Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia, specifically to protect the rights of storytellers and artists and ensure Aboriginal stories were recorded and shared with future generations.

“When someone buys one of our books, they invest in First Nations creative, cultural and economic futures.”

Magabala Books publishes up to 15 titles a year and in 2024, welcomed new CEO, Gumbaynggirr woman Lilly Brown. Its impressive resume of award-winning titles includes Bruce Pascoe’s best-selling Dark Emu and Young Dark Emu, Black Cockatoo by Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler, and Bindi by Kirli Saunders, the most awarded book in the Publisher’s history.

In 2024 Ali Cobby Eckermann’s poetry book She is the Earth won Book of the Year at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and in 2023 Magabala Books won the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publisher of the Year, Oceania Region.

Explore some of Magabala’s latest titles:

Always Was, Always Will Be By Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson

This junior non-fiction book takes a closer look at some of the iconic First Peoples protest movements of the last 200 years, celebrating the strength, wisdom, and bravery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people defending their land and asserting their right to selfdetermination through history.

Beware the Argula By Kirsty Burgu

This is the second title in the Kimberley Art Centre Series, working with artist Kirsty Burgu from Mowanjum Art and Cultural Centre. The story was told to Kirsty as a child and is a warning to kids to not be too greedy and only take what they need from the bush.

Refugia By Elfie

Shiosaki

Refugia is an unparalleled work of vision and political fury from Noongar and Yawuru poet and scholar Elfie Shiosaki. Inspired by the beeliar (Swan River) and the NASA James Webb Space Telescope’s first year of science, this collection draws on colonial archives to contest the occupation of Noongar Country.

Compassion By Julie Janson

Compassion is the dramatised life story of one of Julie Janson’s ancestors who went on trial for stealing livestock in 1800s New South Wales, and it is an exciting and violent story of anticolonial revenge and roaming adventure.

Admire artworks with a deep connection to the land at Black Stump Gallery.