Black Inc. - Australian Small Publisher of the Year 2007

NEWS

» Black Inc. has been shortlisted for Small Publisher of the Year 2008 in the Australian Book Industry Awards. Mungo MacCallum's Poll Dancing is shortlisted for General Non-Fiction Book of the Year and James Boyce's Van Diemen's Land is shortlisted for Newcomer of the Year.

» Growing Up Asian in Australia edited by Alice Pung will be launched at the 2008 Sydney Writers' Festival. Click here for more details.

» The following Black Inc. authors will also be attending the Sydney Writers' Festival: James Boyce, Gideon Haigh, Tanya Levin, Robert Manne, Alice Pung, Craig Sherborne and Sally Warhaft. Click here for more information.

» Click here to register to receive updates on all of Black Inc.'s news, events and latest releases.

Freedom on the Fatal Shore
Australia’s First Colony
By John Hirst

Freedom on the Fatal Shore brings together John Hirst’s two books on the early history of New South Wales. Both are classic accounts which have had a profound effect on the understanding of our history. This combined edition includes a new foreword by the author.

Convicts with their “own time”, convicts with legal rights, convicts making money, convicts getting drunk – what sort of prison was this? Hirst describes how the convict colony actually worked and how Australian democracy came into being, despite the opposition of the most powerful. He writes: “This was not a society that had to become free; its freedoms were well established from the earliest times.”

$36.95 - ISBN 978-1-86395-207-1 - Black Inc. - May 2008

Dear Mr Rudd
Ideas for a Better Australia
Edited by Robert Manne

With the election of the Rudd government, there is revived interest in the nation’s future – both the challenges and the opportunities. What kind of future can we imagine for Australia?

Dear Mr Rudd offers new essays by leading Australian thinkers on the key areas of interest: climate change, indigenous affairs, the economy, human rights, education, health, the republic and much more besides.

Each essay serves up in a readable and inspiring way a set of new ideas to consider. This is not an academic contribution or a set of policy statements. Rather, at this time of national renewal, it is an invitation to debate and discussion issued by many passionate and imaginative Australians.

Please click here to read an extract.

Please click here to view details of upcoming Dear Mr Rudd events.

Click here to view the Dear Mr Rudd conversation series on SlowTV.

Click here to view the Dear Mr Rudd events on Black iTV.

$29.95 - ISBN 978-0-9775949-1-7 - Black Inc. Agenda - March 2008

I am Melba
By Ann Blainey

Melba: the story of an Australian girl who defied convention and became the most famous singer of her era.

Growing up in Melbourne, Nellie Mitchell dreamed of fame, but her devout father disapproved. As a young wife and mother on the Queensland cane-fields, her longing for an exciting life intensified. Travelling to London and Paris, she trusted in her musical talent and hoped for a lucky break.

Within a few years, reborn as Nellie Melba, she was performing to overflowing concert halls, hobnobbing with European royalty and collaborating with some of the most renowned composers of the age. Audiences swooned over the “heavenly pleasures” of her voice, while the public showed an insatiable appetite for news of her sometimes passionate private life. Feted and chastised by critics, pursued by the press and mobbed by fans, Dame Nellie Melba was Australia's first international superstar.

In this important biography, enhanced by new research, Ann Blainey captures the exuberance, controversy and pathos of Melba’s remarkable career.

Please click here to see details on upcoming events with Ann Blainey.

$32.95 - ISBN 978-1-86395-183-8 - Black Inc. - 14 April 2008