The ASA has compiled a collection of books on the craft of writing to assist members in their creative endeavours.
Books are listed alphabetically by author surname and can be purchased at your local bookshop or online via Booktopia.
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ASA's Guide to Getting PublishedUnderstanding and navigating Australia's book industryJuliet Rogers Writing a book is hard work. Knowing what to do next can be even harder. There are so many questions to be asked and answered. How does the publishing industry really work? How do you go about submitting a manuscript so that it gets further than the dreaded slush pile? Do you need the help of an agent and, if so, how much will that cost you? If you're lucky enough to receive a publishing offer, what do you need to know about the contract and how to negotiate the best deal? And if you decide, like a growing number of writers, that self-publishing might be for you, how do you avoid the cowboys who are only out to rip you off? Help is at hand. Juliet Rogers, publisher and former CEO of the Australian Society of Authors, knows the book industry inside out. Over more than 30 years she has been a bookseller, a sales rep, a publisher and an author advocate. In this accessible, easy-to-use book, rich in information, she shares her vast experience to demystify the publishing industry, steer you away from common mistakes and help give your book the best chance of success. Written in a warm, straight-talking style, ASA's Guide to Getting Published is an indispensable addition to the shelves of any aspiring author. |
The Plot WhispererSecrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can MasterMartha Alderson When it comes to writing bestsellers, it's all about the plot. Trouble is, plot is where most writers fall down--but you don't have to be one of them. With this book, you'll learn how to create stories that build suspense, reveal character, and engage readers--one scene at a time. Celebrated writing teacher and author Martha Alderson has devised a plotting system that's as innovative as it is easy to implement. With her foolproof blueprint, you'll learn to devise a successful storyline for any genre. She shows how to:
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Writing Speculative FictionCreative and Critical ApproachesEugen Bacon In this engaging and accessible guide, Eugen Bacon explores writing speculative fiction as a creative practice, drawing from her own work, and the work of other writers and theorists, to interrogate its various subgenres. Through analysis of writers such as Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling, this book scrutinises the characteristics of speculative fiction, considers the potential of writing cross genre and covers the challenges of targeting young adults. It connects critical and cultural theories to the practice of creative writing, examining how they might apply to the process of writing speculative fiction. Both practical and critical in its evaluative gaze, it also looks at e-publishing as a promising publishing medium for speculative fiction. This is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Creative Writing, looking to develop a critical awareness of, and practical skills for, the writing of speculative fiction. It is also a valuable resource for creators, commentators and consumers of contemporary speculative fiction. Chapter 8, 'Horror and the Paranormal' was shortlisted for the Australasian Horror Writers Association (AHWA)'s 2019 Australian Shadows Awards. |
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The Artful EditOn the Practice of Editing YourselfSusan Bell The Artful Edit explores the many-faceted and often misunderstood-or simply overlooked-art of editing. The book brims with examples, quotes, and case studies, including an illuminating discussion of Max Perkins's editorial collaboration with F. Scott Fitzgerald on The Great Gatsby. Susan Bell, a veteran book editor, also offers strategic tips and exercises for self-editing and a series of remarkable interviews, taking us into the studios of successful authors such as Michael Ondaatje and Ann Patchett to learn from their various approaches to revision. Much more than a manual, The Artful Edit inspires readers to think about both the discipline and the creativity of editing and how it can enhance their work. In the computer age of lightning-quick composition, this book reminds readers that editing is not simply a spell-check. A vigorous investigation into the history and meaning of the edit, this book, like The Elements of Style, is a must-have companion for every writer. |
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Nabokov's Favorite Word Is MauveWhat the Numbers Reveal about the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own WritingBen Blatt Data meet literature in this playful and informative look at our favorite authors and their masterpieces. There’s a famous piece of writing advice—offered by Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, and myriad writers in between—not to use -ly adverbs like “quickly” or “fitfully.” It sounds like solid advice, but can we actually test it? If we were to count all the -ly adverbs these authors used in their careers, do they follow their own advice compared to other celebrated authors? What’s more, do great books in general—the classics and the bestsellers—share this trait? |
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Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second EditionHow to Edit Yourself Into PrintRenni Browne and Dave King Hundreds of books have been written on the art of writing. Here at last is a book by two professional editors to teach writers the techniques of the editing trade that turn promising manuscripts into published novels and short stories. In this completely revised and updated second edition, Renni Browne and Dave King teach you, the writer, how to apply the editing techniques they have developed to your own work. Chapters on dialogue, exposition, point of view, interior monologue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an expert editor would go through to perfect your manuscript. Each point is illustrated with examples, many drawn from the hundreds of books Browne and King have edited. |
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Business and Legal Forms for Authors and Self-PublishersBusiness and Legal Forms SeriesTad Crawford with Stevie Fitzgerald and Michael Gross Professional and aspiring writers, including those who wish to self-publish, will find indispensable tools in this practical, complete, and time-saving popular resource. Business and Legal Forms for Authors and Self-Publishers contains all of the essential forms for success, including assignment confirmations, contracts between author and agent, publisher, collaborator, designer, printer, sales representative, book distributor, and more, copyright applications and transfers, licenses of rights (including electronic rights), permissions, nondisclosure, and invoices. The collection includes a CD-ROM with all the forms as well as a QR Code. In addition to updating the entire book, this fourth edition includes new material covering: |
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Style ManualFor Authors, Editors and Printers 6th EditionDCITA Anyone faced with the task of preparing material for publication needs guidance. This sixth edition of the Style Manual provides guidance and detailed advice on publishing in both print and electronic formats. |
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Writing FictionAn introduction to the craftGarry Disher The art of writing fiction successfully requires not only talent but craft. This book is a guide to that craft - for writers who want to understand and master the basics of what makes a novel or story work well. |
Look - It's Your Book!Write, Publish & Promote Your Non-Fiction Book: A Self-Publishing Guide for Australian WritersAnna Featherstone Want to write a book but don't know where to start? Overwhelmed by all the publishing options out there? Keen to learn how self-publishing can help you create a business from your book? Or are you already an author and want to further leverage your titles? This comprehensive guide for Australian writers will put you in control of your writing and publishing journey. Whether you plan to write a non-fiction business, lifestyle, self-help book or memoir, Look - It's Your Book! is the ultimate guide to writing and self-publishing non-fiction. Read it and move beyond your fears. Learn how to:
This book's step-by-step approach will help you discover the importance - and power - of the 'self' in self-publishing. It will show you how to avoid pitfalls, conquer challenges and set yourself and your book up for success. |
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The Elements of EloquenceHow To Turn the Perfect English PhraseMark Forsyth In an age unhealthily obsessed with substance, this is a book on the importance of pure style. From classic poetry to pop lyrics and from the King James Bible to advertising slogans, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase - such as 'Tiger, Tiger, burning bright', or 'To be or not to be' - memorable. |
The Writing BookA Practical Guide for Fiction WritersKate Grenville A completely practical workbook that offers down-to-earth ideas and suggestions for writers or aspiring writers to get you started and to keep you going. |
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Writing From Start to FinishA Six-step GuideKate Grenville new handbook to help beginners kickstart their writing by prize-winning author and long-time writing teacher, Kate Grenville
Don't worry. Along the way, Kate provides plenty of examples and hands-on, step-by-step guidance to help get you going-and keep you going. She also includes a quick guide to grammar and an exam kit for last-minute revision. |
Making StoriesHow Ten Australian Novels Were WrittenKate Grenville and Sue Woolfe Making Stories shows ten acclaimed Australian authors at work. |
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Ten Things About WritingBuild Your Story, One Word at a TimeJoanne Harris An indispensable guide to the craft of writing and business of publishing from one of our bestselling and most versatile authors. |
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True TracksRespecting Indigenous knowledge and cultureTerri Janke Indigenous cultures are not terra nullius -nobody's land, free to be taken. True Tracks is a ground-breaking work that paves the way for the respectful and ethical engagement with Indigenous knowledges and cultures. Combining real-world cases and personal stories, award-winning Meriam/Wuthathi lawyer Dr Terri Janke draws on twenty years of professional experience to inform and inspire leaders across many industries; from art and architecture, to film and publishing, dance, science and tourism. How will your project affect and involve Indigenous communities? What Indigenous materials and knowledge are you using? Who owns Indigenous languages? True Tracks helps answer these questions and many more, and provides invaluable guidelines that enable Indigenous peoples to actively practise, manage and strengthen their cultural life and empower future generations. If we keep our tracks true, Indigenous culture and knowledge can benefit everyone. |
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On WritingA Memoir of the CraftStephen King Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in the vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999 - and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. There is a reason why Stephen King is one of the bestselling writers in the world, ever. Described in the Guardian as 'the most remarkable storyteller in modern American literature', Stephen King writes books that draw you in and are impossible to put down. |
The Magic WordsWriting Great Books for Children and Young AdultsCheryl Klein Great children's and young adult novels offer their readers both wonderful outward adventures and stirring inward journeys. In The Magic Words, Cheryl B. Klein draws on fifteen years of experience as an editor to guide writers on an enjoyable and practical-minded voyage of their own. She provides a complete overview of the writing, editing, and publication processes, from developing a salable premise for a novel to querying your dream agent. She also explains the differences in content and approach for middle-grade vs. young adult novels, and she discusses vital contemporary topics in the field like self-publishing, world-building, and creating diverse characters. The book delves deep into the major elements of fiction-intention, character, plot, and style-while its original exercises, thought-provoking questions, and solid rules of thumb help writers apply its insights to their individual creative work. With its generous tone and useful tools for story analysis and revision, The Magic Words will be an essential handbook for writers of children's and young adult fiction. |
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The Writer Laid BareEmotional honesty in a writer's art, craft and lifeLee Kofman The Writer Laid Bare is a book for everyone who loves the craft of good writing. Be they a voracious reader wanting to know more or an emerging writer themselves, best-selling author and writing coach Lee Kofman has distilled her wisdom, insight and passion into this guide to writing and emotional honesty. |
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Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and LifeSome Instructions on Writing and LifeAnne Lamott 'Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."' Here, for the first time, is a local edition of the bible of writing guides - a wry, honest, down-to-earth book that has never stopped selling since it was first published in the United States in the 1990s. In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott, a bestelling novelist and memoirist, distils what she's learned over years of trial and error. Beautifully written, wise, and immensely helpful, this is the book for serious writers and writers-to-be. |
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Steering the CraftA Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of StoryUrsula K Le Guin A revised and updated guide to the essentials of a writer’s craft, presented by a brilliant practitioner of the art "A must-read for intermediate and advanced writers of fiction and memoir." --Library Journal, STARRED |
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Writing True StoriesThe complete guide to writing autobiography, memoir, personal essay, biography, travel and creative nonfictionPatti Miller The complete guide to writing autobiography, memoir, personal essay, biography, travel and creative nonfiction. |
Novelist as a VocationThe master storyteller on writing and creativityHaruki Murakami A charmingly idiosyncratic look at writing, creativity, and the author's own novels. |
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How to be an AuthorThe Business of Being a Writer in AustraliaGeorgia Richter and Deborah Hunn While there are many books about how to write, few focus on the profession of being a author. After decades of teaching and advising aspiring writers, lecturer Deborah Hunn and publisher Georgia Richter realised that new writers need more than just a writer's manual if they are to succeed in the competitive world of authorship. Taking new writers' most commonly asked questions as a starting point, and calling on the know-how of published authors and industry professionals, Richter and Hunn present the lowdown on topics such as how to find a publisher, preparing a manuscript for submission, agents, contracts, coping with rejection, the editing process, ethical and moral rights, and own-voice considerations, pitching, self-promotion, finding and building an audience, establishing an author brand, fruitful relationships with booksellers, and creating and maintaining social media profiles. |
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The Elements of StyleIllustratedWilliam Strunk , E. B. White and Maira Kalman (Illustrator) Every English-language writer knows Strunk and White's famous little writing manual, The Elements of Style. Many people between the ages of seventeen and seventy can recite the book's mantra--make every word tell--and still refer to their tattered grade school copy when in need of a hint on how to make a turn of phrase clearer, or a reminder on how to enliven prose with the active voice. Considering that millions of copies have been sold to millions of devotees, you might not think to ask what could enhance this (almost) perfect classic. In fact, the addition of illustrations allows readers to experience the book's contents in a completely new way, making the whole learning experience more colorful and clear, as well as adding a whimsical element that compliments the subtly humorous tone of the prose. The Elements of Style Illustrated will come to be known as the definitive, must-have edition. |
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The Little Red Writing BookMark Tredinnick A book on technique, style, craft and manners for everyone who writes and wants to do it better. It is a manual of good diction, composition, sentence craft, paragraph design, structure and planning. Enriched by examples of fine prose from great writers including Tim Winton; flush with exercises informed by the author’s expertise in both creative writing and functional prose; and written with flair, The Little Red Writing Book is a lively and readable guide to lively and readable writing. |
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The Little Green Grammar BookMark Tredinnick What really goes on inside a sentence? What is your subject, and where is your verb, and what is its tense, and where is your modifier, and why does it matter? Where do you need a comma, and where do you not? Why are dashes and semicolons so misunderstood? When is it which and when is it that? In The Little Green Grammar Book, Mark Tredinnick asks and answers the tough grammar questions—big and small—with the same verve and authority readers encountered in The Little Red Writing Book. The Little Green Grammar Book does for grammar what The Little Red Writing Book did for style. It will have you writing like a writer in no time. |
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The Writers JourneyMythic Structure for Writers, 3rd EditionChristopher Vogler The updated and revised third edition provides new insights and observations from Vogler's ongoing work on mythology's influence on stories, movies, and man himself. The previous two editions of this book have sold over 180,000 units, making this book a 'classic' for screenwriters, writers, and novelists. |
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Creating Character ArcsThe Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story StructureK M Weiland Powerful Character Arcs Create Powerful Stories Have you written a story with an exciting concept and interesting characters-but it just isn't grabbing the attention of readers or agents? It's time to look deeper into the story beats that create realistic and compelling character arcs. Internationally published, award-winning novelist K.M. Weiland shares her acclaimed method for achieving memorable and moving character arcs in every book you write. By applying the foundation of the Three-Act Story Structure and then delving even deeper into the psychology of realistic and dynamic human change, Weiland offers a beat-by-beat checklist of character arc guidelines that flexes to fit any type of story. This comprehensive book will teach you:
Gaining an understanding of how to write character arcs is a game-changing moment in any author's pursuit of the craft. Bring your characters to unforgettable and realistic life-and take your stories from good to great |
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Damn Fine StoryMastering the Tools of a Powerful NarrativeChuck Wendig This book focuses entirely on the mechanisms and architecture of narrative, moving from a comprehensive macro view of story to a micro view of the components of good storytelling and how to master them. |
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The Kick-Ass Writer1001 Ways to Write Great Fiction, Get Published, and Earn Your AudienceChuck Wendig The journey to become a successful writer is long, fraught with peril, and filled with difficult questions: How do I write dialogue? How do I build suspense? What should I know about query letters? How do I start? The best way to answer these questions is to ditch your uncertainty and transform yourself into a KICK-ASS writer. This new book from award-winning author Chuck Wendig combines the best of his eye-opening writing instruction--previously available in e-book form only--with all-new insights into writing and publishing. It's an explosive broadside of gritty advice that will destroy your fears, clear the path, and help you find your voice, your story, and your audience. You'll explore the fundamentals of writing, learn how to obtain publication, and master the skills you need to build an army of dedicated fans. No task is too large or small for the kick-ass writer. With his trademark acerbic wit and gut-punch humour, Wendig will explain: ? How to build suspense, craft characters, and defeat writer's block. |
The Writers RoomConversations about WritingCharlotte Wood A brilliant resource for established and beginning writers and for passionate readers everywhere from a range of acclaimed and much-loved writers, lovingly compiled by the brilliant and insightful Charlotte Wood. |
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Into The WoodsHow Stories Work And Why We Tell ThemJohn Yorke We all love stories. But why do we tell them? And why do all stories function in an eerily similar way? John Yorke, creator of the BBC Writers' Academy, has brought a vast array of drama to British screens. Here he takes us on a journey to the heart of storytelling, revealing that there truly is a unifying shape to narrative forms - one that echoes the fairytale journey into the woods and, like any great art, comes from deep within. From ancient myths to big-budget blockbusters, he gets to the root of the stories that are all around us, every day. 'Fresh, enlightening, gripping.' Sunday Times. 'The best book on the subject I've read. Quite brilliant.' Tony Jordan, creator/writer, Life on Mars, Hustle 'Brilliant.' Ken Follett 'Marvellous' Julian Fellowes 'Terrifyingly clever . . . Packed with intelligent argument.' Evening Standard 'Oh, how I wanted to hate it! I didn't. I loved it.' Jimmy McGovern, creator/writer Cracker, The Street 'The most important book about scriptwriting since William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade.' Peter Bowker, writer, Blackpool, Occupation, Eric and Ernie |
In the Writers on Writers series, leading writers reflect on another Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. Provocative, crisp and written from a practitioner's perspective, the series starts a fresh conversation between past and present, writer and reader. It sheds light on the craft of writing, and introduces some intriguing and talented authors and their work. Published by Black Inc. in association with the University of Melbourne and State Library Victoria.
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On Robyn DavidsonWriters on WritersRichard Cooke 'She is a feminist icon, one of our most consequential authors and a unique individual. But perhaps we should start with something she is not- Robyn Davidson does not like to call herself a writer, or at least not a Writer.' |
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On JM CoetzeeWriters on WritersCeridwen Dovey 'I was born in the year J.M. Coetzee published his third novel, Waiting for the Barbarians. My mother read this dark, disturbing book with its multiple scenes of torture as she breastfed me at night, while my older sister slept and the house was quiet. It was 1980. The apartheid government had declared a state of emergency in the face of growing internal revolt, and my parents were thinking of leaving South Africa again.' |
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On Kate JenningsWriters on WritersErik Jensen Award-winning writer Erik Jensen plunges the reader into the world of acclaimed novelist, poet and pioneering feminist Kate Jennings. Weaving in his interviews with Jennings in New York, he shows how poetry, politics and family were transmuted into her first novel, Snake - a work of art that depicts rural Australia in a funny, cutting and unforgettable way. This is a biography of a book and the life that made it. |
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On Shirley HazzardWriters on WritersMichelle de Kretser Hazzard was the first Australian writer I read who looked outwards, away from Australia. Her work spoke of places from which I had come and places to which I longed to go … It was reading as an affair of revelations and gifts. It fell like rain, greening my vision of Australian literature as a stony country where I would never feel at home. |
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On David MaloufWriters on WritersNam Le ‘[On reading Malouf for the first time] Here was a very-much-alive half-Lebanese writer (from provincial Brisbane, no less) producing English-language writing of the very first order. (We spoke like this.) And in prose, not poetry. The poetry was in the prose; it stayed and sprung its rhythms, chorded its ideas, concentrated its images. Every other novel claims to be written in ‘poetic prose’; the real thing, when you come across it, is actually shocking.’ |
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On John MarsdenWriters on WritersAlice Pung In this fascinating book, Alice Pung writes about one of her deep influences - the much-loved and hugely successful John Marsden. |
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On Beverley FarmerWriters on WritersJosephine Rowe In this beautifully hewn essay, novelist and short-story writer Josephine Rowe finds a kindred spirit in Beverley Farmer and argues for a celebration of this long-neglected Australian writer. |
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The Novel ProjectA Step-by-Step Guide to Your Novel, Memoir or BiographyGraeme Simsion ‘Writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.’ That’s one way to do it. But you risk finding yourself blocked and directionless, with a manuscript that may never be finished staring back at you. This book is about another approach, based on established theories of creativity and design—and on the experience of authors who have adopted a more structured and reliable process. It could have been called What They Don’t Teach You in Writing School because, rather than focusing on prose, it covers the entire writing process, from premise to proofreading, as a step-by-step project. Instead of waiting for the blood, you’ll approach each day with clarity and purpose, progressing steadily toward the best book you’re capable of. Easy to follow, practical and highly entertaining, The Novel Project is a masterclass from an author who started his writing career at fifty and whose novels have sold millions of copies around the world. |
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On Patrick WhiteWriters on WritersChristos Tsiolkas Patrick White is the unAustralian writer who did more than any other writer in the twentieth century to create an imaginative language that we can call “Australian”, who unshackled us from the demand that we write as the English do, who recognised, through his own alienation and also through his profound love for his partner, that we were a migrant and mongrel nation forging our own culture and our own language. |
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