Popular Oceanian Cultural Books
Find cultural books written by authors from Oceania for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (25)
1.
A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao EN
FijiDescription:
Otherwise, he fears he will be stuck in Fiji forever. When an indentured Indian woman goes missing from a sugarcane plantation and Fiji's newspapers scream 'kidnapping', the inspector-general reluctantly assigns Akal the case, giving him strict instructions to view this investigation as nothing more than cursory. A charming debut historical mystery set in 1914 Fiji. Perfect for fans of Abir Mukherjee, Vaseem Khan and Sujata Massey. 'AN UTTERLY CHARMING NOVEL ... NILIMA RAO IS AN AUTHOR WELL WORTH DISCOVERING' ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH 'AN EXCEPTIONALLY PROMISING DEBUT' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED R... continue
2.
A Shipwreck in Fiji by Nilima Rao EN
Description:
Fiji, 1915: when a purported sighting of Germans on the run from WWI turns deadly, Sergeant Akal Singh must (reluctantly) take up the investigation in this vibrant follow-up to A Disappearance in Fiji. Sergeant Akal Singh, an unwilling transplant to Fiji, is just starting to settle into his life in the capital city of Suva when he is sent to the neighboring island of Ovalau on a series of fool’s errands. First: investigate strange reports of Germans, thousands of miles from the front of World War I. Second: chaperone two strong-willed European ladies, Mary and Katherine, on a sight-seeing tour... continue
3.
Bloody Woman by Lana Lopesi EN
Country: Oceania / 
New Zealand
New Zealand
Description:
Bloody Woman is bloody good writing. It moves between academic, journalistic and personal essay. I love that Lana moves back and forward across these genres: weaving, weaving – spinning the web, weaving the sparkling threads under our hands, back and forward across a number of spaces, pulling and holding the tensions, holding up the baskets of knowledge. Tusiata Avia This wayfinding set of essays, by acclaimed writer and critic Lana Lopesi, explores the overlap of being a woman and Sāmoan. Writing on ancestral ideas of womanhood appears alongside contemporary reflections on women's experiences... continue
4.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent EN
AustraliaDescription:
Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard. ... BURIAL RITES evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and pla... continue
5.
Chalo Jahaji : On a Journey Through Indenture in Fiji by Brij V. Lal EN
Description:
Indians of the indentured diaspora have a remarkable lot in common. Meeting as 'foreign' students in India, the girmitiya descendants from Guyana, Mauritius, Fiji and Natal immediately develop a close bonding because of their use of common words, similarity of names, culinary preferences and transported texts. In similar manner, when Brij Lal visited Trinidad in 1998, both his physical as well as his spiritual being enabled him to blend immediately with his Bhojpuri brethren in Chinidad Tapu. His book, Chalo Jahaji, focusses ostensibly on the girmit experience in Fiji. It seeks to tell the sto... continue
6.
Dark Emu : Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe EN
Description:
In this seminal book, Bruce Pascoe uncovers evidence that long before the arrival of white men, Aboriginal people across the continent were building dams and wells; planting, irrigating, and harvesting seeds, and then preserving the surplus and storing it in houses, sheds, or secure vessels; and creating elaborate cemeteries and manipulating the landscape. All of these behaviors were inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag, which turns out have been a convenient lie that worked to justify dispossession. --back cover.
7.
Forgotten War : New Edition by Henry Reynolds EN
Description:
'We are at war with them,' wrote a Tasmanian settler in 1831. 'What we call their crime is what in a white man we should call patriotism.' Australia is dotted with memorials to soldiers who fought in wars overseas. So why are there no official memorials or commemorations of the wars that were fought on Australian soil between Aborigines and white colonists? Why is it more controversial to talk about the frontier wars now than it was one hundred years ago? In Forgotten War, winner of the 2014 Victorian Premier's Award for non-fiction, influential historian Henry Reynolds makes it clear that the... continue
8.
Forty Two Stories by Marlene Dee Gray Potoura EN
Country: Oceania / 
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Description:
"Ordinary people, the types of people you meet every day - a cleaner, a cook, a bus driver, a street vendor, a school boy - all have a story to tell. Tales of courage, compassion, hope and self-belief. They live in villages, towns and cities around Bougainville and Papua New Guinea, and their stories explore values that inspire. There are some colourful characters that leap out of the real and spirit world of Papua New Guinea in this short story collection." — Stephanie Wynne, Editor of Tusitala Short Story Competition - Samoa Observer
9.
Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia by Evelyn Flores, Emelihter Kihleng EN
Country: Oceania / 
Micronesia
Micronesia
Description:
For the first time, poetry, short stories, critical and creative essays, chants, and excerpts of plays by Indigenous Micronesian authors have been brought together to form a resounding—and distinctly Micronesian—voice. With over two thousand islands spread across almost three million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, Micronesia and its peoples have too often been rendered invisible and insignificant both in and out of academia. This long-awaited anthology of contemporary indigenous literature will reshape Micronesia’s historical and literary landscape. Presenting over seventy authors and one ... continue
10.
Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia by Evelyn Flores, Emelihter Kihleng EN
KiribatiDescription:
For the first time, poetry, short stories, critical and creative essays, chants, and excerpts of plays by Indigenous Micronesian authors have been brought together to form a resounding—and distinctly Micronesian—voice. With over two thousand islands spread across almost three million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, Micronesia and its peoples have too often been rendered invisible and insignificant both in and out of academia. This long-awaited anthology of contemporary indigenous literature will reshape Micronesia’s historical and literary landscape. Presenting over seventy authors and one ... continue