Close to the Subject

A collection of works from one of Australia's most accomplished media personalities, Daniel Browning.

Alongside conversations with the likes of the late singer-songwriter Archie Roach, author of Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence Doris Pilkington, and contemporary artist, political activist and founding memeber of proppaNOW Vernon Ah Kee, the book contains a series of essays showcasing Browning's talent as an Australian cultural critic and public intellectual. Browning examines the life and activism of Anthony Fernando who protested atrocitiies against indigenous people while living in exile in Europe in the early 1900s, as well as that of Georgia Lee, a Torres Strait Islander who released the first full-length album by an Indigenous Australian to be recorded in stereo and toured overseas, yet is virtually unheard of in Australia today.

"Close to the Subject" is a collection of my published writing from 2007 along with unpublished poetry, memoir and my first play... I wanted to confront this idea of objectivity - the golden mean of whitefella journalism - and to probe what that actually means and to challenge it," says Browning.  "The book captures the growth of a particular current in contemporary indigenous Australian Art."

An eclectic collection, Close to the Subject blends a range of previously unpublished poetry, memoir, art writing and a play script, highlighting the diversity of Browning's output and hte passion of his creative drive.

"Implicit in these pages is an invitation: to weigh in to the diverse textures, subtexts and genres that make up my work.  Criticise it, question its assumptions and by all means, disagree - but engage with it.  Above all, feel some of the power, the urgency and the generous spirit of those voices that I have consistently sought to amplify - even the reverberant echoes of the stifled and the unheard," Browing syas.

"Daniel Browning's storytelling power is completely transformative," says Magabala Books Editor Arlie Alizzi.  "It is a joy to watch him work, in whatever medium he chooses - radio, poetry, reportage or essay.  I  am so excited to see this book shared with the public; a genre-bending antholog of some of his best writing, representing a lifetime of experience and thoughtful observation that is impossible to summerise."

Close to the Subject

by Daniel Browning

Magabla Books

RRP: $34.99

buy this book