S1 EP3 ‘Cultural Rigour:’ First Nations writing and its critics

What does it really take to read and review First Nations writing with integrity?

Wiradjuri poet and critic Jeanine Leane joins Graham Akhurst for a powerful conversation that turns the spotlight on the critics themselves. With sharp insight and deep cultural knowledge, Jeanine unpacks the idea of “cultural rigour” — and why it’s essential for anyone engaging with Black writing in Australia.

Whether you're a reader, reviewer, or writer, this episode challenges you to rethink what it means to read responsibly — and to listen deeply.

Graham Akhurst

Graham Akhurst is a Kokomini writer and the author of Borderland (UWAP). He is the Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges at UTS and a Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Australian Studies and Creative Writing. As a Fulbright Scholar, Graham took his love for writing to New York City, where he studied for an MFA in Fiction at Hunter College. He is a board member of Varuna: The National Writers’ House, and the Sydney Review of Books. He lives with his wife on Gadigal Country in Sydney and enjoys walking Centennial Park with a good audiobook. 

Jeanine Leane

Jeanine Leane is a Wiradjuri writer, teacher and academic from southwest New South Wales. After a longer teaching career, she completed a doctorate in Australian literature and Aboriginal representation and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian Centre for Indigenous History at the Australian National University. She is the recipient of two Discovery Indigenous Awards through the Australian Research Council, ‘The David Unaipon Award: Shaping the literary and history of Aboriginal Writing in Australia’ (2014-2017) and; 'Indigenous Storytelling and the Living Archive of Aboriginal Knowledge' (2020 -2024).

Jeanine has published widely in the area of Aboriginal literature, writing otherness and creative non-fiction. Jeanine was the recipient of the University of Canberra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Poetry Prize, and she has won the Oodgeroo Noonucal Prize for Poetry twice (2017 & 2019). Her second volume of poetry, Walk Back Over was released in 2018 by Cordite Press. In 2020 Jeanine edited Guwayu – for all times – a First Nations collection commissioned by Red Room Poetry and published by Magabala Books.

Readings 

'The Past' read by its author, Oodgeroo Noonuccal 

'We Are Going' read by its author,  Oodgeroo Noonuccal 

'History' read by its author, Jeanine Leane