Indigenous Writers Decolonising the Canon: Critical Review of Anita Heiss and Penny Van Toorn (eds). Stories Without End…. Southerly, 62.2 (2002). Sydney: Halstead Press. [Review article]

Stories Without End is a collection of Indigenous writing, published as a special edition of the literary journal, Southerly, and gathered together by Anita Heiss and Penny Van Toorn, guest editors for the occasion. Lionel Fogarty designed the cover image and the collection’s title is based on an essay contributed by Jennifer Martiniello. The result is a major achievement, a collection that easily achieves the editors’ aim of “showcasing the work of recent award-winning writers, alongside new and emerging writers, and more established names … [that will] help break down narrow assumptions of what Indigenous writing is.” But while the writers themselves offer work that is tough, intelligent and passionate, the editors seem to have missed the significance of their cumulative impact. This I think is likely to lead to a more general under-estimation of the collection. I believe it has mana, challenging and changing the Australian literary canon.