From the winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award comes a poignant novel of self-discovery. This 25th-anniversary edition features an updated foreword from Kim Scott and an introduction from Philip Morrissey.
In the vast expanse of Western Australia, a young Indigenous man embarks on a profound journey within himself. Labelled as the successful outcome of his white grandfather’s attempts to breed the ‘first white man born’, Harley wants to be a failure.
Finding himself at a difficult point in the history of his country, family and self, Harley’s story takes the reader on an eye-opening and heartbreaking narrative of the impact of colonisation on First Nations people in Australia.
From one of Australia’s most revered storytellers, Benang sheds light on the ongoing struggle for cultural preservation, and it is an epic and beautiful story of celebration and lament, beginning and return.