The inaugural Southerly Essay, "Serve the tea Blak" by K.A Ren Wyld, to be launched by Professor Elizabeth McMahon, and followed by a conversation between Ren Wyld and Roanna Gonsalves.
Southerly聽is proud to announce the launch of the inaugural Southerly聽Essay, written by K. A. Ren Wyld and entitled "Serve the tea Blak", to be launched by Professor Elizabeth McMahon.
As part of Southerly's ongoing revival, we will publish on our website a series of essays each focused on an Australian literary work or aspect of Australian literature. The inaugural Southerly聽Essay is an extended reflection on the award-winning work, 聽by Natalie Harkin聽(Wakefield Press, 2025).
Professor Elizabeth McMahon, the long-serving former Editor of Southerly, will launch the essay. K.A Ren Wyld will be in conversation with Roanna Gonsalves, Editor of Southerly, about the important themes of Harkin's work, the history contained within it, and the use of archival research to speak back to the colony and to power, through literature.
K.A Ren Wyld is a writer living on the coast, south of Adelaide. Their next novel, Whichway Shimmering Dust聽(UQP, 2027), is a work of imagined justice for members of the Stolen Generations. Ren was the guest co-editor of Southerly 80.1, , and contributed an essay on archival material in Aboriginal-authored fiction and poetry, titled "Novel Archival Adventurers".
Tuesday 16th June 2026
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Robert Webster 327
For more information, contact Sean Pryor.