One of those voices is Yasmin Smith: a poet, editor, and creative force of South Sea Islander, Kabi Kabi, Northern Cheyenne and English heritage. Her work has appeared in Frankie, Meanjin, Island, Griffith Review, Overland, Australian Poetry Journal, Best of Australian Poetry – and in 2024, she was awarded both the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers and the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize, and was selected for Varuna’s First Nations Flagship Fellowship (just casually).
As an editor at UQP, Yasmin works across fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature and poetry – and plays a leading role in the First Nations Classics series, which republishes landmark works of fiction, non-fiction and memoir by iconic Indigenous authors, alongside new introductions by some of today’s most exciting First Nations voices.
Yasmin has written the new introduction to Swallow the Air by Tara June Winch – a book that continues to reverberate through classrooms, communities and cultural conversations nearly two decades since its release. We spoke to her about the continued impact of Swallow the Air, and what it means to honour First Nations stories.
Swallow the Air was originally released in 2006 – why do you think it continues to resonate so deeply with readers today?
It’s an astonishing achievement for an author’s debut work to still be in print decades after release. Since publication in 2006, Swallow the Air continues to be a bestseller amongst diverse communities of readers, and has been set as a core syllabus text studied by many Australian students. To have multiple generations engage closely with Winch’s work for almost two decades solidifies Swallow the Air as a First Nations Classic edition, and as a timeless and accessible read.
What was important for you to highlight in your introduction, especially for a new generation of readers discovering Tara’s work?
I wrote in my introduction that, as an Aboriginal reader discovering a First Nations author for the first time, Swallow the Air felt much like a second skin. To the non-Aboriginal reader, Swallow the Air could present itself as a universal coming-of-age story exploring race, identity and belonging.
But what resonated with me most, as a young Aboriginal person, was that Winch’s characters never attempted to prove or find their Aboriginality; Country and culture, and the places and communities of people who shape an understanding of those values, are inherent in Winch’s work.
I hope new readers discover Winch’s generosity and skill used to gently carry us through a novel that bears complex layers of grief, loss, parental death, racism, homelessness, violence and trauma with so much care and truth.
Can you share any reflections on Tara’s impact on First Nations literature and writers, particularly young women?
Winch’s writing career and contribution to First Nations literature has shaped and challenged the perspectives of many who have explored her work. Swallow the Air, in particular, will always be innately connected to my own pathway as a First Nations editor working in publishing because it was the first book that made me consider who can tell our stories and how our stories are being discovered, edited, published and read in the Australian market and beyond.
Authors like Tara June Winch, and others included in the First Nations Classics series, represent a collective of groundbreaking writers who I hope will provide young people of all genders the self-determination and grit to tell their own stories.
You’re also the series editor for UQP’s First Nations Classics. Can you talk us through the vision behind the series and what makes it so powerful?
We launched the First Nations Classics series in 2023 and now have 20 books in the collection including authors from across many generations and genres. The concept of publishing canons of ‘classic’ works isn’t new but we hadn’t seen one that celebrated First Nations writing. The First Nations Classics are a gathering of our most prominent Indigenous voices who continuously, as they have always done, revive the literary landscape of this continent.
UQP holds a richly diverse backlist of First Nations literature, and so the series was created to honour that legacy of groundbreaking writing and offer readers a sense of rediscovery, especially to older titles that might have been out of print or no longer accessible. The new introductions are also an important reflection on why these books were selected to be part of the series, and the impact and influence these First Nations authors have had on other writers, creatives, artists, thinkers and leaders.
