Michael Mohammed Ahmad

'I only ever asked you for one thing,' my father said, a quiver in his voice. 'Just this one thing.' It was as though I had smashed the Ten Commandments. 'Oh father,' I cried, grovelling at his ankles while my mother and siblings looked on. 'The one thing you asked of me - is everything.' Bani Adam has known all his life what was expected of him. To marry the right kind of girl. To make the House of Adam proud. But Bani wanted more than this - he wanted to make his own choices. Being the first in his Australian Muslim family to go to university, he could see a different way. Years later, Bani will write his story to his son, Kahlil. Telling him of the choices that were made on Bani's behalf and those that he made for himself. Of the hurt he caused and the heartache he carries. Of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned. In this moving and timely novel, Michael Mohammed Ahmad balances the complexities of modern love with the demands of family, tradition and faith. The Other Half of You is the powerful, insightful and unforgettable new novel from the Miles Franklin shortlisted author of The Lebs. PRAISE FOR THE LEBS WINNER NSW Premier's Literary Awards Multicultural NSW Award 2019 SHORTLISTED Miles Franklin Literary Award 2019 'an open-eyed and highly charismatic novel broiling with fight, tenderness and ambition' Big Issue 'wonderfully vivid and compelling . . . utterly authentic' Books+Publishing

The Other Half of You

'Bani Adam thinks he's better than us!' they say over and over until finally I shout back, 'Shut up, I have something to say!' They all go quiet and wait for me to explain myself, redeem myself, pull my shirt out, rejoin the pack. I hold their anticipation for three seconds, and then, while they're all ablaze, I say out loud, 'I do think I'm better.' As far as Bani Adam is concerned Punchbowl Boys is the arse end of the earth. Though he's a Leb and they control the school, Bani feels at odds with the other students, who just don't seem to care. He is a romantic in a sea of hypermasculinity. Bani must come to terms with his place in this hostile, hopeless world, while dreaming of so much more. Praise for The Lebs: 'an open-eyed and highly charismatic novel broiling with fight, tenderness and ambition.' - Big Issue 'The Lebs is a strong and resonant novel that deserves to be widely read.' - Weekend Australian 'The author never lets his superb command of idiom or his eye for the absurd overwhelm a deeply felt exploration of the hurt and damage that can come from encounters with the Australian Other. No one who reads The Lebs deserves to come out unscathed.' - The Saturday Paper 'Ahmad's piercing storytelling cuts away at the lace and trimmings of race relations in Australia today.' - The Lifted Brow

The Lebs

The Tribe is a collection of three novellas portrayinglife in an extended Muslim Allawite Lebanese-Australian family, as seen by oneof its youngest members. The first novella describes the family house in theSydney suburb of Alexandria, and the three generations who live, often in somediscord, in its rooms; the second details the marriage of a cousin, and thethreatened appearance of an estranged branch of the family at the ceremony; thethird rounds off the cycle with the death of the family matriarch, the boy'sgrandmother. Together they offer an intimate insight into a communitynegotiating the conflict between tradition and modernity, and the complextribal affiliations of the extended family.

The Tribe

Winnie Dunn

This Little Red Thing is a collection of poetry, vignettes and flash fiction by writers of colour from Western Sydney. The anthology features over thirty new writers who take us from continent to continent by sentence to sentence.

This Little Red Thing

Ellen Van Neerven

Annotation. The Big Black Thing: Chapter 1 is the first issue in a new series of poetry and prose from emerging and established writers of Indigenous, migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Chapter 1 The Big Black Thing

Bani Adam has known all his life what was expected of him. To marry the right kind of girl, to make the House of Adam proud. But Bani wanted more than this, he wanted to make his own choices. Being the first in his Australian Muslim family to go to university, he could see a different way. Years later, Bani will write his story to his son, Kahlil. Telling him of the choices that were made on Bani's behalf and those that he made for himself. Of the hurt he caused and the heartache he carries. Of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned.

Climate catastrophe, police brutality, white genocide, totalitarian rule and the erasure of black history provide the backdrop for stories of love, courage and hope. In this unflinching new anthology, twelve of Australia’s most daring Indigenous writers and writers of colour provide a glimpse of Australia as we head toward the year 2050. Featuring Ambelin Kwaymullina, Claire G. Coleman, Omar Sakr, Future D. Fidel, Karen Wyld, Khalid Warsame, Kaya Ortiz, Roanna Gonsalves, Sarah Ross, Zoya Patel, Michelle Law and Hannah Donnelly. Edited by Michael Mohammed Ahmad. Original concept by Lena Nahlous. Published by Affirm Press in partnership with Diversity Arts Australia and Sweatshop Literacy Movement.

Michael Mohammed Ahmad

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