Black Inc. - Australian Small Publisher of the Year 2007

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow
By A.J. Mackinnon

Truly hilarious books are rare. Even rarer are those based on real events. Join AJ Mackinnon, your charming and eccentric guide, on an amazing voyage in a boat called Jack de Crow. Equipped with his cheerful optimism and a pith helmet, this Australian Odysseus in a dinghy travels from the borders of North Wales to the Black Sea – 4,900 kilometres over salt and fresh water, under sail, at the oars, or at the end of a tow-rope – through twelve countries, 282 locks and numerous trials and adventures, including an encounter with Balkan pirates.

Along the way he experiences the kindness of strangers, gets very lost, and perfects the art of slow travel.

$32.95 - ISBN 978-1-86395-199-9 - Black Inc. - 4 July 2008

Growing Up Asian in Australia
Edited by Alice Pung

Asian-Australians have often been written about by outsiders, as outsiders. In this collection, compiled by award-winning author Alice Pung, they tell their own stories with verve, courage and a large dose of humour. These are not predictable tales of food, festivals and traditional dress. The food is here in all its steaming glory – but listen more closely to the dinner-table chatter and you might be surprised by what you hear.

Here are tales of leaving home, falling in love, coming out and finding one’s feet. A young Cindy Pan vows to win every single category of Nobel Prize. Tony Ayres blows a kiss to a skinhead and lives to tell the tale. Benjamin Law has a close encounter with some angry Australian fauna, and Kylie Kwong makes a moving pilgrimage to her great-grandfather’s Chinese village.

Here are well-known authors and exciting new voices, spanning several generations and drawn from all over Australia. In sharing their stories, they show us what it is really like to grow up Asian, and Australian.

Contributors include: Shaun Tan, Jason Yat-Sen Li, John So, Annette Shun Wah, Quan Yeomans, Jenny Kee, Anh Do, Khoa Do, Caroline Tran and many more.

Click here to watch the launch at the 2008 Sydney Writers' Festival.

Click here to visit Alice Pung's website.

$27.95 - ISBN 978-1-86395-191-3 - Black Inc. - 2 June 2008

Blue Covenant
The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water
By Maude Barlow

Scientists call them “hot stains” – the parts of the earth running out of clean, drinkable water. They now include northern China, large areas of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia, the Midwestern United States, and sections of South America and Mexico. How did the world’s most vital natural resource become so imperilled? And what must we do to pull back from the brink?

In the tradition of such classics as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, Blue Covenant addresses an environmental crisis that – together with global warming – poses one of the gravest threats to our survival. World-renowned activist and author Maude Barlow has been at the forefront of international water politics, and in this timely and important book she discusses the state of the world’s water, how water companies are reaping vast profits from declining supplies, and how ordinary people from around the world have banded together to reclaim the public’s right to clean water.

Essential reading for all who care about the planet, Blue Covenant is the most up-to-date look at the global water crisis and its impact on humans and the natural world.

Maude Barlow will be touring nationally in late August/early September, beginning as a key guest of the Melbourne Writers' Festival. Click here for details of her tour.

$29.95 - ISBN 978-1-86395-223-1 - Black Inc. - 9 June