Born Into This
* The Story Prize Spotlight Award, Winner
* Tasmanian Literary Awards, Longlist
* Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, Shortlist
* Queensland Literary Awards - University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection, Shortlist
* Age Book of the Year award, Finalist
* An ABA Indie Next pick for "Great New Reads" for August.
* "A Best Native Book of 2021" --The Tribal College Journal
* "A Best Book of the Year" --Independent Book Review
* An ABA Indie Next pick for "Great New Reads" for August.
* "A Best Native Book of 2021" --The Tribal College Journal
* "A Best Book of the Year" --Independent Book Review
The remarkable stories in Born Into This are eye-opening, razor-sharp, and entertaining, often all at once.
From an Aboriginal ranger trying to instill 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, Adam Thompson presents a powerful indictment of colonialism and racism.
With humor, pathos, and the occasional sly twist, Thompson's characters confront discrimination, untimely funerals, classroom politics, the ongoing legacy of cultural destruction, and -- overhanging all like a discomforting, burgeoning awareness for both black and white Australia -- the inexorable disappearance of the remnant natural world.
"A legacy of cultural destruction in Australia and the disappearance of the natural world loom over stories of Aboriginal rangers, untimely funerals and angry bees in this sharp fiction debut."
--New York Times Book Review
"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."
--Thuy On, The Guardian
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"[Born into This is] a potent collection by an author who mined the richness of both his ancestry, his work within the Aboriginal community and his island home for tales about black and white relations, colonialism, class friction, racism and the despoilment of heritage and environment... 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."
--Thuy On, The Guardian
"Some stories are morbidly comic while others cut deep, conveying the absurdity and despair of Indigenous experiences of settler-colonialism across Tasmania."
--Tristen Harwood, The Saturday Paper
"This collection of Indigenous resistance, triumph and joy stands alongside millions of stories throughout this country, first spoken, then written, since time immemorial."
--Raveena Grover, Kill your Darlings
"This remarkable debut crackles with wit and rage -- as entertaining and affecting as it is thought-provoking."
--Stella Charls, Readings
"A new collection of short stories addresses the universal themes of identity, racism and heritage destruction."
--Dana Anderson, The Examiner
"Born Into This represents the emergence of a fresh and vital voice on the Australian literary scene. Indigenous writer Adam Thompson expertly combines wit and pathos in his debut short story collection. With stories from a diversity of perspectives, but bound by its Tasmanian setting, Thompson's mastery over his characters and sensibility for contemporary issues makes this a special collection."
--Happy Mag, Best New Books of 2021
"Piercing. At times funny. Real. Raw. Straight up truth. Stories that urge the reader to reflect, to look inward. .. This book is a gift."
--Blackfulla Bookclub (Instagram)
"Born Into This includes a range of stories that highlight the racism and oppression that many different First Nations people face in our current day, while also making the reader pause and think about the reality of these fictional stories... It is a stunning collection from a talented and compelling debut author. Thompson has given Australia a new voice to listen to and learn from in 2021."
--Lauren Pratt, Underground Writers
"The Tasmanian landscape and a whole host of engaging, charming and well drawn characters populate the stories that make up Born Into This... a wonderful reminder that there is no monolithic Aboriginal Australian... a thought provoking collection, and hopefully a conversation provoking collection too."
--Simon Clark, The AU Review
"It's not often a new literary voice seems to spring full formed from a world so unique and yet so achingly recognisable, and it's a voice with its own gravitas and unique vision. A debut collection that leaps from the starter's gate."
--Cate Kennedy, author of The World Beneath
"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."
--Ellen van Neerven, author of Heat and Light
"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."
--Tony Birch, author of The White Girl
"A compelling new voice, tough yet tender, from the heart of Aboriginal Tasmania."
--Melissa Lucashenko, author of Too Much Lip
"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."
--Bob Brown, author of Memo for a Saner World
"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."
--Tara June Winch, author of The Yield
