Marlee Silva, left, and Briggs

Adam Briggs – better known simply as Briggs – is a Yorta Yorta rapper, record label owner, comedy writer and actor. He’s part of the ARIA-winning hip hop duo A.B. Original, and outside of music, he’s appeared regularly in ABC TV shows (Black Comedy, Cleverman, The Weekly with Charlie Pickering). Recently, he’s been a writer for Matt Groening’s animated Netflix series, Disenchantment.

Now, Briggs adds children’s book author to his CV. Adapted from his song, ‘The Children Came Back’ – with illustrators Kate Moon and Rachael Sarra – Our Home, Our Heartbeat is a beautiful picture book that celebrates Indigenous resilience, honours legends past and present, and salutes emerging generations of the oldest continuous culture on earth.

'You weren’t that yesterday; you’re this today. What could you be tomorrow?'

Briggs

In conversation with writer, podcaster and Tiddas 4 Tiddas co-founder Marlee Silva, Briggs talks about the importance of children seeing themselves in picture books – and the rise of books (like Young Dark Emu and Welcome to Country) that distil complex conversations into accessible formats.

It’s an uncertain moment for the arts, for writers and for everybody. If you’re in a position to support our efforts to bring you books, writing and ideas from a safe distance, you can make a contribution here. Thank you for your generosity.

In this short, special episode – to mark the launch of Clean, the latest edition of Notes – we bring you 'Hygiene Fidelity'. Non-fiction writer and art student CB Mako remembers the cleanest room in the cleanest ward of the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Read by the author themselves, this piece of memoir also coincides with Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Read the story here 12 Sep 2019 Note Hygiene Fidelity  /  Health, medicine & psychology

Guest post by CB Mako

This episode was recorded and produced by Scott Limbrick and Jon Tjhia. Sophie Quick edited the original story.

Melissa Keil and Dhonielle Clayton at the Wheeler Centre

In a response to a reader’s letter, YA author Malinda Lo once wrote, ‘Diversity is not important. Diversity is reality. Human beings are not all the same.’ If books function as tools of empathy, what happens when we never see ourselves in them, let alone at the centre of a story? How can we support and encourage real representation in our literature, especially for younger readers?

Dhonielle Clayton is a bestselling author of YA fiction, including The Belles and The Everlasting Rose. She’s a former teacher and librarian. And she’s the COO of We Need Diverse Books, the US-based campaign for a more inclusive and representative literary milieu. The movement began as a hashtag, went viral, then formalised into a non-profit in order to methodically press for progress.

Clayton joins host Melissa Keil to talk about her writing, as well as the importance of Own Voices stories, and some of the problems with traditional publishing models. She highlights ways these models can shift while still retaining the crucial ability to connect with readers, and considers how we can create a more equitable and exciting literary culture.